A 16-member BCB Physically Challenged Cricket team leaves here for Englandon Fridayto participate in a tri-nation T20 tournament titled “2018 Physical Disability Tri-Series” fromJuly 8 to 13.
Hosted by the England & Wales Cricket Board, the other two teams of the tournament are host England and Pakistan.
The final match will take placeon Wednesday(July 11).
The tournament hopes to promote social inclusion of physically disabled cricketers through engaging in sports.
The BCB team, who will play its first match against Englandon Sunday, is supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Spinner Drupam Patranabish will lead the team as a captain, while Masud Hasan is the team manager, and Rashed Iqbal is the coach.
The players have clear and visible physical challenges/disabilities however, they have a sound knowledge of cricket.
The tournament will provide them a platform to highlight their cricketing skills and efforts of physically challenged cricketers, helping them reintegrate into the mainstream society gradually.
The ICRC has been supporting sports activities for physically challenged people since 2013 as part of its Physical Rehabilitation Project (PRP).
Together with the concerned authorities and ministry, the ICRC organized a 5-nation international T20 Cricket Tournament in Bangladesh with participating teams from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, India and Pakistan in 2015.
In 2016, the team went to Dubai to participate in a tri-nation T20 series.
Last year, it organized a T20 cricket tournament in Bangladesh for local teams of physically challenged cricketers.
The ICRCon Thursdaysaid sport can help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with disabilities.
It can transform community attitudes about physically challenged people by highlighting their skills and aptitudes, reducing the tendency to see the disability instead of the person, said the ICRC.
The ICRC together with its partners promotes sport activities that allow disabled people to receive the opportunity to show that they are as active as non-disabled people.
Team:
Md Javed Bhuian, Md Imran, Md Alom Khan, Mohammad Kazol Hossen, Md Monirujjaman (Vice Captain), S M Shaharia Shamim, Faisal Khan, Akbar Hossain, Md. Manir Hossain, Md Rasel Sikder, Md Riadul Islam, Drupam Patranabish (Captain), Mahfuzur Rahman, Vaben Das, Md Shawon Sikder and Shariful Islam.
