Sikkim CM inaugurates Center of Excellence for cricket enthusiasts in state

In a big push to sports infra in Sikkim, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Tuesday inaugurated the Center of Excellence, which includes a club house, rain water reservoir, and cafe offside of the Sikkim Cricket Association (SICA) at Sikkim Cricket Ground in Mining in Sikkim’s Pakyong district.

The opening of the Center of Excellence aims to create future cricket talents and impart training to promising young cricketers by providing top infrastructure and training facilities, sports science backup, and overall supervision under the guidance of coaches and staff.

The idea of Center of Excellence was proposed by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang during the finals of the SICA Men’s A Division tournament in March 2023, when CM Tamang was the Sports Minister.

He said that since SICA previously had a girls’ cricket academy during 2007–10, he had put up this idea to revive the academy.

The Center of Excellence kicked off with 12 students on June 15, and now there are 24 best talents, 12 boys and 12 girls, from across the state undergoing a 365-day-a-year residential cricket coaching program.

Similarly, in accordance with Central Ground Water Authority Guidelines, SICA has implemented the scheme of artificial recharge off-ground water and rainwater harvesting in the Mining ground and installed water storage and recharge systems for effective rainwater harvesting. This is done to maintain the grass pitches, as cricket pitches consume large quantities of water.

Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has promised to support cricket talents from the State and announced that the state will produce cricket talents such as Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Speaking about the history of Sikkim Cricket Association he said that it was established in 1987, and for 36 years many presidents and executive bodies have brought the Sikkim Cricket Association this far.

He said that when he was the Sports Minister in the Sikkim Government in 2007–10, the cricket association was run by the President, Tika Subba, and a controversy came up regarding the Mining Ground. He said that the lease of the cricket ground belonged to the Mines and Geology Department. He said that the lease was almost lost and that he renewed it while coming to the government.

CM Tamang further highlighted that they had filed a case in the Sikkim High Court for the recognition of SICA, and a judgment was passed in order to provide financial assistance after which an amount of 50 Lakhs was awarded every year.

In 2007, a girl’s cricket academy was started out of contributions, and many were sent out to participate in the National Cricket Academy and further take part in a few Ranji Trophies.

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