Abu Dhabi: The Tolerance Cricket Cup 2018 will start in Abu Dhabi from October 4, the organisers announced on Wednesday.
Sixteen teams comprising 300 players from more than 20 nationalities will compete demonstrating the virtues of tolerance. The competition for the Tolerance Cricket Cup will be a truly international event played out in the capital, said the organisers.
The final will be played at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on November 16.
The event is being organised by Ministry of Tolerance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, ZonesCorps AbuDhabi and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council under the patronage of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance,
A many as 30 cricket matches will be played before the final on the International Day of Tolerance, November 16, at Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. The winning team will be awarded the Tolerance Cricket Cup.
Speaking at a ceremony, Shaikh Nahyan said talented and ambitious people from around the world have contributed to the development of the UAE. The tolerance amongst people in the UAE is examplery as the country welcomes citizens of all nations, ethnicities and religious beliefs
“The Tolerance Cricket Cup competition will honour Shaikh Zayed as the country is also commemorating the Year of Zayed,” he added.
“This fully inclusive cricket competition will display the universal values of tolerance, respect, understanding and teamwork,” he said.
His Highness President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was quoted by Shaikh Nahyan as saying: “We recognise and appreciate cultural and human diversity, which we consider a key engine for sustainable development and a means for deepening the culture of openness, dialogue, communication and coexistence, and the denunciation of intolerance, extremism and intellectual isolation.”
Shaikh Nahyan said, “I have the great pleasure of announcing the Tolerance Cricket Cup, a fitting emblem honouring the men who contribute to building and maintaining the UAE.”
The winner of this first edition of the Tolerance Cricket Cup and all other competitors in the matches that begin in October will validate the significance of the International Day of Tolerance, he concluded.
Ambassador of Pakistan Moazzam Ahmad Khan and the India Ambassador Navdeep Singh Suri were also present at the ceremony.
