Brand Ambassadors for support in its Attempt at a Guinness World Record in Goa

Asian Paralympic Cricket League approaches Sachin Tendulkar, Sonakshi Sinha, Vidya Balan & Salman Khan as brand ambassadors for support in its attempt at a Guinness World Record in Goa for World's Biggest Paralympic Cricket League

The Asian Paralympic Cricket League announced that it was teaming up with the organisers of the GCL 2019 to attempt aGuinness World Record for the World's Biggest Paralympic Cricket League. It has approached Bollywood stars Sonakshi Sinha, Vidya Balan, Salman Khan and his NGO Being Human in making the Guinness World Record for the World's Biggest Paralympic Cricket League a reality. Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has also been approached, sources familiar with the developments said.

The Goa Cricket League will now be known as Asian Paralympic Cricket League (in association with GCL 2019)

24 wheelchair cricket teams from different parts of India had already confirmed their participation in the Wheelchair Cricket Cup, which is part of the Goa Cricket League - GCL 2019. More than 60 differently-abled cricket teams along with 8 differently-abled women's cricket teams are participating in the event, Event Director & Chairman Flynn Remedios said, adding that theBoard of Disabled Cricket Association is now with GCL 2019 and will be a co-organiser of the Goa Cricket League along with the Disabled Sporting Society.

The GCL 2019, is slated to be one of the biggest sports events in the World till date, with  overall nearly 200 teams in the lineup, said Haroon Rasheed, Secretary of the Disabled Sporting Society. 

In addition, twenty one state-level Women's Cricket teams from different States of India will participate in the Goa Cricket League as part of the Women's Cricket Series to be held in Goa in March and April, Flynn Remedios said.

As part of the Goa Cricket League, an added international attraction will be the India-Bangladesh wheelchair cricket international match which will be held in the State on 31st March 2019. 

The Bangladesh team has been nominated by the Bangladesh Cricket Association, the national cricket body in the country. It will first arrive in Mumbai and will play the first match in Mumbai. The final match will be held in Goa on 31st March, Remedios said. 

This match is being supported by the Bangladesh Cricket Association - the official cricket body of Bangladesh and the Disabled Sporting Society of India (DSS). This is the first time in the history of Goa that an international wheelchair cricket match is being held in the state.

Alongside this international match, for the first time in Goan history, the State will play host to 24 wheelchair cricket teams from across the length and breadth of the nation who will be part of the Goa Cricket League - GCL - 2019. 

The All Goa State Cricket Cup -  GCL 2019 incorporating wheelchair cricket - albeit with different criteria compared to standard international cricket norms,  will be held at Shiroda and Ponda in the month of March & April with over 200 local teams participating, both in the Under-18 and Open categories together.

In addition to the wheelchair cricket teams, there will be 8 Blind Cricket teams, which will be part of the re-christened Asian Paralympic Cricket League

Registration for the same has already begun and more than 62 teams from all over Goa have already registered for the tournament in the open category. Registration for the U-18 category has already begun, said Remedios.

There will be special inter-state charity matches for Blind, Differently-Abled and Wheelchair cricketers along with TV and Bollywood celebrities and actors. The specially-abled teams will play exhibition matches only with the length of the pitch and the field being different.

This state-level tournament is being organised by the Goa State Differently-able, Wheelchair and Blind Sports Forum (GDWBSF)  in association with the International Differently-abled Sportspersons Forum. It is however not affiliated to the Goa Cricket Association.

“This is the first time that cricket matches for the Blind, Wheelchair and Differently-abled cricketers are being organised in Goa,” event co-organiser and media spokesperson Flynn Remedios said, adding that an India-Bangladesh Wheelchair cricket tournament was held in Mumbai last year with the visiting Bangladesh wheelchair cricket team being sponsored by the Bangladesh Cricket Association, the official national cricket body of the country.  

Last year at the India-Bangladesh Wheelchair cricket tournament, the  Indian team was captained by Ramesh Sartape of Maharashtra and the Bangladesh team was captained by Mohammad Mohasin. Suniel Shetty had inaugurated the event held at the Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai.

We are in the process of inviting teams from all over India for the Blind, Wheelchair and Differently-abled cricket matches, said Remedios. The grand prize for the tournament will be Rs 5 lakh, with several other prizes for the participating and winning teams. The grand prize for the wheelchair cricket team will be Rs 2.5 lakh with the 1st prize for the winning team being Rs one lakh.

According to Remedios,  Wheelchair cricket teams from Goa, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra,  Mumbai, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have already confirmed their participation. Eight Blind cricket teams have confirmed their participation in the series.