This weekend, the frozen surface of Minnow Lake will play host to a sport regularly played in the dead of summer. Local cricket enthusiasts are putting their favourite game on ice March 3, and the community is invited to come cheer them on.
The second annual International Ice Cricket Challenge is being held in collaboration with the Northern Ontario Cricket Council, the Rotary Club of Sudbury and the India/Canada Friendship Association. The tournament will raise funds, as well as awareness, for Project Kandwar, a vocational training school located in the Chikballapur area of Karnataka State in India.This school is located in an impoverished part of India and is intended to provide internationally recognized skilled trades training for local young men and women in support of their local economy and industries, according to a press release.
“The International Ice Cricket Challenge offers players and spectators the opportunity to appreciate a less serious side of cricket with players and participants from the multinational mosaic of our community and beyond,” Lionel Rudd, the chair of the event, said.
The cricket challenge will feature the India All Stars and various other international teams. It is set to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the ice behind Minnow Lake Place on Bancroft Drive.
“Destitute people in India, who have no conception of Ice Cricket, do have a clear understanding of common humanity and that Canadians, half a world away, are genuinely committed to giving them a hand up,” Narasim Katary, director of Project Kandwar said. “Although it is Canadians from Sudbury who are vying for a championship ice cricket trophy, it is the people in India who win.”
The Northern Ontario Cricket Council has been an active member of Sudbury’s recreational league for the last three years. In doing so it has organized cricket tournaments, specials events, workshops and coaching for all age groups, especially the youth.
