Sourav Ganguly launches a new school in Kolkata
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly launched his school in Kolkata to help boost cricket at the grass-root level and enable budding youngsters to achieve their dream of making it big in the sport. Named the Sourav Ganguly Foundation and Cricket School and empowered by PitchVision, it will collaborate with various schools across the country in order to provide the best facilities to the students.
Ganguly feels that schools do not give enough importance to sports, and expressed the importance of integrating sports into the curriculum in schools all over the country.
"The aim of the foundation is to collaborate with schools and provide opportunities to children. We will make sure that we sit with the schools and create a curriculum which is not just about studies, but also involves a considerable amount of sport," Ganguly said.
While talking about the technology PitchVision, Ganguly emphasised the fact that youngsters would be able to learn quicker due to the state-of-the-art audio visual technology.
“Through PitchVision we promise to take cricket in West Bengal to the next level. We will appoint 100-150 coaches to help in the training of various kids from different schools who will be associated with us. Free coaching will also be given to cricketers who are not financially strong," he added.
He also tweeted about the event:
Launched the foundation to take cricket to remotest part of WestBengal pic.twitter.com/cgdUzXLPer
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) December 14, 2016
Since his retirement in 2008, Ganguly has kept himself extremely busy and has taken up multiple administrative roles. He is currently a member of the Governing Council of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, amongst many other roles.
Extra Cover: Video: Sourav Ganguly plays gully cricket in Kolkata
The current president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Ganguly also dabbles in commentary and match analysis, apart from co-owning the ISL (Indian Super League) side Atletico de Kolkata, his hometown side.
He took India to great heights during his stint as captain of the Test and ODI squads for over five years, and was instrumental in infusing fresh blood into the Indian team after the turn of the millennium. In total, he captained in 49 Tests and 146 ODIs for India and achieved reasonable success both home and away.
Ganguly was the captain of the side which reached the final of the ICC World Cup in 2003 and also of the side which won the historic Natwest Series in 2002 in England.