ISLAMABAD: A six-day cricket training for visually impaired women and girls from across Pakistan, organized by the Australian High Commission in collaboration with PBCC ( Pakistan Blind Cricket Council) and Serena Hotels, concluded at Murghzar Cricket Ground Saidpur Islamabad on Monday.
The training builds on Australia’s assistance to PBCC since 2018, which led to the formation of the first blind women’s cricket team in Pakistan. The team played its first international Twenty20 game in the same year.
Australia supports Women Blind Cricket Team
Speaking at the award-giving ceremony, the Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Neil Hawkins, expressed that Australia’s support was aimed at providing opportunities to girls and women with disabilities to compete and demonstrate their skills and ability.
“We hope to break gender stereotypes and passimestic perceptions linked with people with disabilities through our backing of this initiative. Both Pakistan and Australia share a passion for cricket, so we are happy to support Pakistan Blind Cricket Council’s efforts to take gilrs and women having disabilities into the sport,” Hawkins added.
Coaches Abdul Razzaq, Bakhtawar Iqbal and Tahir Butt, who trained the national blind men’s team, helped the women players to explore their skills.
The Chairman of PBCC, Syed Sultan Shah, expressed that blind cricket was a sport that had gained popularity in the recent past for its unique approach to inclusivity, adding that it provided an opportunity for people having visual impairments to compete at a high level, refine their skills and confidence, and become people of vision, both on and off the field.
Two blind factory workers invented blind cricket in the city of Melbourne, Australia, in 1922 when they improvised the sport using a tin can containing rocks. Later in 1928, the first sports ground with a clubhouse for blind cricket was built at Kooyong in Melbourne.
