By IANS,
Mohali : School children in Punjab have something to cheer about, as the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Mohali will invite kids from all over the state to witness the India-Australia test match slated here Oct 17.
“We will bring school children studying in classes 6 to 10 for this test match and accommodate them in the students’ block. We will provide them free tickets and food,” Inderjit Singh Bindra, president of PCA told media persons in Chandigarh.
“Children will be transported from all the 20 districts of Punjab like Amritsar, Ferozpur, Bathinda and Ludhiana. We have deployed 100 buses for this and five buses from each district will come to Mohali everyday during the test match. We are expecting around 5,000 children to come to PCA daily from all over Punjab during the match,” Bindra said.
“We will bring the students in the ratio of 70:30 from the public and private schools, respectively,” Bindra added.
He said: “These are their formative years and this exercise will help to enhance their interest in the sport.”
“Immense talent lies in every village and in the rural areas of Punjab and we just need to detect and harness that talent,” Bindra said.
“Seeing the amazing interest in cricket among the people of this region, we have also reduced the rates of students’ block and chair block so that common person can easily afford the tickets and come to see the match,” Bindra added.
Students’ ticket, which was earlier for Rs.200, is now available for Rs.100 whereas the tickets in chair block are now priced at Rs.300 after a reduction of Rs.200 from the previous rates, said a PCA official.