Dubai: Ajit Tendulkar, the man who guided the legendary Sachin Tendulkar to the path of glory has been signed up to start an international standard cricket academy in Ajman. It was Ajit, who spotted the enormous talent in Sachin and took him to coach Ramakant Achrekar at the age of 11 to groom him into a top class player.
Ajit signed an agreement with Dubai based business conglomerate Khushi Group that will partner with Ajman Cricket Club to set up the academy at the Ajman Cricket Council turf ground to be located near Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, behind Emirates City. This facility is co-owned by cricket-loving businessmen I.P. Khaitan, Kamal Hussain, Ashok Puri and Nawab Shaji-ul-Mulk.
Announcing the plans for the academy at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai on Wednesday, Shaikh Mohammad Sharif, the chairman of Khushi Group, said: “The agreement between Khushi Group and Ajit Tendulkar will see the development of a world class cricket academy and training facility and that will help promote cricket and develop domestic cricket in the UAE. This is a new beginning for Khushi Group and our agreement with Ajit Tendulkar is one of the many more such agreements we plan to do with some cricketing legends and stars that we want to bring to help develop local cricketing talent so that the UAE could become a preferred training ground for future cricket stars.”
Plans are on to have facilities to even sponsor visas and accommodation to international students to come and train at the academy. The state-of-the-art facilities will be made available at the academy.
Shaji-ul-Mulk, the secretary general of the Ajman Cricket Council and member of the Emirates Cricket Board said: “This world class facility will be well connected through highways and will become the hub for cricket training in the UAE. Cricket is the fastest growing sport in the UAE and we want to nurture its growth with proper infrastructure and facilities.”
Mazhar Khan the administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board said: “The academy will be an inspiration for cricketers here as Ajit was the inspiration to his younger brother Sachin who went on to become a legend of the game. I am sure every family knows this and hence will not hesitate to send their kids to train at this academy.”
This will be the first academy to be set up with the approval of the Ajman Cricket Council.
