Ability Forum

[Lovingheart]

Blind cricket catches on in Bangladesh
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Bangladesh
Blind cricket has been played around the world for decades but recently a modified form of the game was introduced to cricket-mad Bangladesh.
Hafizur Rahman is the Ian Botham of the nascent blind cricket scene in Bangladesh.
Hafizur Rahman
Hafizur hopes that one day they will be able to form a Bangladesh national side and challenge other countries
He wears the same wrap-around sun glasses and sports a mullet, the straggly hairstyle popular with English sportsmen of the 1980s.
Hafizur, who likes to be called The Bullet, is an enthusiast and a veteran of the game. For 17 years, he played club cricket in Dhaka and coached a youth
team.
But in 2003, his eyesight started to go.
He travelled to the south Indian city of Madras (Chennai) for an operation but it was unsuccessful.
He remembers a doctor there telling him not to give up hope.
He can still see a bit but only out of the corners of his eyes. When he runs he has to tilt his head sideways. But that has not put him off.
'Practice makes perfect'
He was the captain of the red team, which took on the green team, at the blind cricket match I went to watch last week.
Visually impaired cricketers
In Bangladesh it is difficult to find the space to play cricket
He almost won the game single-handedly.
"Practice," Hafizur said afterwards, "makes a man perfect."
This is his message to the young men who make up the rest of his team.
He hopes that one day they will be able to form a Bangladesh national side and then challenge other countries.
"Then," Hafizur says, "my dream will have come true and we will have proved that we are not disabled but that we are differently challenged people."
That still seems a long way off.
The game I saw was one of the first to be played in Bangladesh. Blind cricket was only introduced here in May.
Rules of the game
It is played in a dozen other countries and was invented in Australia in 1922.
Disabled people also want to contribute and make the world enjoyable for all
Musharaff Hossein, Action on Disability and Development
Its basic rules are the same as regular cricket but there are some key differences.
Firstly the two teams need to have the same balance of players who are completely blind and those who, like Hafizur, can see to a certain extent.
That means that, while a blind player will bat, bowl or throw the ball entirely by himself when he is running or looking for the ball, he can be helped
and guided by team mates with slighter better vision.
Then there is the ball itself. It looks like a normal white cricket ball but it is softer and lighter, and it rattles.
The bowlers bowl underarm. They roll the ball along the ground towards the batsman who then, when he hears it, has to hit it as hard as he can.
The game then moves along at a surprisingly fast pace.
The match I saw was as noisy and as competitive as any I have seen on the subcontinent, where cricket is by far the most popular sport.
Lack of space
In Bangladesh the challenge for anyone wanting to play - whether they are blind or not - is to find somewhere to do so.
Bowler
People with disablities generally find life very difficult in Bangladesh
Half the country spends several months of every year under water. Every available bit of over-crowded land is built on, lived on or farmed, so people just
get used to playing where they can.
The blind cricketers are luckier.
They have been playing at one of the few private cricket grounds in Dhaka but, even so, they have had to contend with a water-logged and bumpy pitch.
It is expensive to play here as well, and they need sponsors to continue.
The star batsman of the green team - which lost this game to Hafizur's reds - is Abdul Nayeem Mamoon.
The 24-year-old is completely blind. He is a student at Dhaka University.
When he is there, and also when he is on the cricket pitch, he is helped by his partially sighted friend, Shumon.
Both played badly this time, neither - as the commentators say - troubling the scorers.
But they share Hafizur's determination to do well.
"It doesn't matter who wins and who loses," Nayeem says, "we've never been able to play sport before. If I receive the right training, I know I can overcome
every barrier. Being visually impaired is not a big deal."
But the truth is that in Bangladesh having any kind of disability certainly is a big deal.
'Marginalised'
A disabled or blind child is often seen as being a terrible burden on a family. They are less likely to be put through school, get a job and start their
own family, than others.
Most people, as it is, find it hard to earn a living. The price of a kilogram of rice, the staple food, has doubled in the past year but wages have not
changed.
It is common for blind people to become beggars or buskers.
"The life of a disabled person is a struggle. They are the most marginalised people," says Musharaff Hossein, of the charity Action on Disability and Development,
which has helped introduce blind cricket to Bangladesh.
Musharaff, who had polio as a child and walks with crutches, hopes to organise a blind cricket league, as well as the national team.
The idea is to show other Bangladeshis what visually impaired people are capable of achieving and then give them something to cheer on.
"Disabled people also want to contribute," he says, "and make the world enjoyable for all."
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Thursday, 12 June, 2008 at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7450302.stm

_________________
Warmly,

Amit Bhatt
New Delhi, India
Mob: +91-9013323229
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"-Helen Keller.

Blind cricket catches on in Bangladesh
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Bangladesh
Blind cricket has been played around the world for decades but recently a modified form of the game was introduced to cricket-mad Bangladesh.
Hafizur Rahman is the Ian Botham of the nascent blind cricket scene in Bangladesh.
Hafizur Rahman
Hafizur hopes that one day they will be able to form a Bangladesh national side and challenge other countries
He wears the same wrap-around sun glasses and sports a mullet, the straggly hairstyle popular with English sportsmen of the 1980s.
Hafizur, who likes to be called The Bullet, is an enthusiast and a veteran of the game. For 17 years, he played club cricket in Dhaka and coached a youth
team.
But in 2003, his eyesight started to go.
He travelled to the south Indian city of Madras (Chennai) for an operation but it was unsuccessful.
He remembers a doctor there telling him not to give up hope.
He can still see a bit but only out of the corners of his eyes. When he runs he has to tilt his head sideways. But that has not put him off.
'Practice makes perfect'
He was the captain of the red team, which took on the green team, at the blind cricket match I went to watch last week.
Visually impaired cricketers
In Bangladesh it is difficult to find the space to play cricket
He almost won the game single-handedly.
"Practice," Hafizur said afterwards, "makes a man perfect."
This is his message to the young men who make up the rest of his team.
He hopes that one day they will be able to form a Bangladesh national side and then challenge other countries.
"Then," Hafizur says, "my dream will have come true and we will have proved that we are not disabled but that we are differently challenged people."
That still seems a long way off.
The game I saw was one of the first to be played in Bangladesh. Blind cricket was only introduced here in May.
Rules of the game
It is played in a dozen other countries and was invented in Australia in 1922.
Disabled people also want to contribute and make the world enjoyable for all
Musharaff Hossein, Action on Disability and Development
Its basic rules are the same as regular cricket but there are some key differences.
Firstly the two teams need to have the same balance of players who are completely blind and those who, like Hafizur, can see to a certain extent.
That means that, while a blind player will bat, bowl or throw the ball entirely by himself when he is running or looking for the ball, he can be helped
and guided by team mates with slighter better vision.
Then there is the ball itself. It looks like a normal white cricket ball but it is softer and lighter, and it rattles.
The bowlers bowl underarm. They roll the ball along the ground towards the batsman who then, when he hears it, has to hit it as hard as he can.
The game then moves along at a surprisingly fast pace.
The match I saw was as noisy and as competitive as any I have seen on the subcontinent, where cricket is by far the most popular sport.
Lack of space
In Bangladesh the challenge for anyone wanting to play - whether they are blind or not - is to find somewhere to do so.
Bowler
People with disablities generally find life very difficult in Bangladesh
Half the country spends several months of every year under water. Every available bit of over-crowded land is built on, lived on or farmed, so people just
get used to playing where they can.
The blind cricketers are luckier.
They have been playing at one of the few private cricket grounds in Dhaka but, even so, they have had to contend with a water-logged and bumpy pitch.
It is expensive to play here as well, and they need sponsors to continue.
The star batsman of the green team - which lost this game to Hafizur's reds - is Abdul Nayeem Mamoon.
The 24-year-old is completely blind. He is a student at Dhaka University.
When he is there, and also when he is on the cricket pitch, he is helped by his partially sighted friend, Shumon.
Both played badly this time, neither - as the commentators say - troubling the scorers.
But they share Hafizur's determination to do well.
"It doesn't matter who wins and who loses," Nayeem says, "we've never been able to play sport before. If I receive the right training, I know I can overcome
every barrier. Being visually impaired is not a big deal."
But the truth is that in Bangladesh having any kind of disability certainly is a big deal.
'Marginalised'
A disabled or blind child is often seen as being a terrible burden on a family. They are less likely to be put through school, get a job and start their
own family, than others.
Most people, as it is, find it hard to earn a living. The price of a kilogram of rice, the staple food, has doubled in the past year but wages have not
changed.
It is common for blind people to become beggars or buskers.
"The life of a disabled person is a struggle. They are the most marginalised people," says Musharaff Hossein, of the charity Action on Disability and Development,
which has helped introduce blind cricket to Bangladesh.
Musharaff, who had polio as a child and walks with crutches, hopes to organise a blind cricket league, as well as the national team.
The idea is to show other Bangladeshis what visually impaired people are capable of achieving and then give them something to cheer on.
"Disabled people also want to contribute," he says, "and make the world enjoyable for all."
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Thursday, 12 June, 2008 at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7450302.stm

_________________
Warmly,

Amit Bhatt
New Delhi, India
Mob: +91-9013323229
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"-Helen Keller.

[Adverts]

[Matt John]

The WBCC was established in 1996 during an international cricket meeting held in New Delhi, India in September 1996. The WBCC was set up with the objective of promoting and administering the game of blind cricket globally. Today the WBCC has 10 full members namely Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. George Abraham of India is the founding Chairman of the WBCC. Under his leadership, the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup was held in New Delhi in November 1998. Seven countries participated. South Africa defeated Pakistan in the final while India and Australia were the two semi-finalists.

The second Blind Cricket World Cup was held in Chennai, India in December 2002. Pakistan defeated South Africa in the finals.

Peter Donovan of Australia took over as Chairman in 2004.

Pakistan hosted the third World Cup in Islamabad 2006 under the able leadership of Aga Shaukat-Ali, President of Pakistan Blind Cricket Council. Pakistan beat India in the final.

In November 2008, George Abraham was re-elected as President of the WBCC.

_________________
Show your incredibility in key west vacation packages!

The WBCC was established in 1996 during an international cricket meeting held in New Delhi, India in September 1996. The WBCC was set up with the objective of promoting and administering the game of blind cricket globally. Today the WBCC has 10 full members namely Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. George Abraham of India is the founding Chairman of the WBCC. Under his leadership, the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup was held in New Delhi in November 1998. Seven countries participated. South Africa defeated Pakistan in the final while India and Australia were the two semi-finalists.

The second Blind Cricket World Cup was held in Chennai, India in December 2002. Pakistan defeated South Africa in the finals.

Peter Donovan of Australia took over as Chairman in 2004.

Pakistan hosted the third World Cup in Islamabad 2006 under the able leadership of Aga Shaukat-Ali, President of Pakistan Blind Cricket Council. Pakistan beat India in the final.

In November 2008, George Abraham was re-elected as President of the WBCC.

_________________
Show your incredibility in key west vacation packages!

[Alpinto]

blind cricket matches gives chances to blind person to grow up.
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[Currently banned]

blind cricket matches gives chances to blind person to grow up.
================================
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