Honours Student to lead Indian Blind team (1 October 1998)

1 October 1998

Honours Student to lead Indian Blind team

By Gulu Ezekiel

Delhi-based Anand Sharma will lead the Indian team for the inaugural World Cup for the Blind to be held in New Delhi from November 17 to 28. The appointment was made on the basis of his recent performance at the challenger cup series held at Dehradun, near Delhi.

Sharma, a 21-year-old student English honours student at Delhi's elite St.Stephen's college, lost his eyesight at the age of two, a victim of a terrorist bomb in Jamshedpur, Bihar.

Anand's family lives in a small village near the steel town of Jamshedpur. It was not till eight years later that he regained partial eyesight after receiving a cornea graft from a young American. "I pray for him every day." says Sharma.

Anand first came to prominence when he scored 152 not out in the final of a tournament in 1990 and won a free ticket to London as the prize for the best cricketer. It was the first time he had flown. His ambition now is to study at Oxford.

The first world cup for the blind will see seven of the world's top cricketing nations - Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India battle it out.

There are three categories of players allowed in each team - three totally blind, four partially blind and a maximum of four partially sighted.

From: CricInfo365 (www.cricinfo365.com)

Source :: CricInfo