SGFI to hold talent hunt for Indian School Players League

The secretary-general of the SGFI, and Chairman of the Khelo India Technical Committee, Rajesh Mishra said that more such leagues for the school students were in the pipeline for games like badminton, table tennis and football.

As part of the talent hunt, there will be camps held across the country, to identify players. (File Image)

The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) will launch a countrywide talent hunt for boys in the age group of 12 to 18 years for the Indian School Players League (ISPL) to be staged in Dubai next year.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the managing director of the Indian Junior Players League Sports Management, Dr. Dinesh Kapoor, said that it was a step to support talent at the grassroots level. The league was held last year as the IJPL, and took a mild change in its name, to ensure the collaboration with the School Games Federation.

The secretary-general of the SGFI, and Chairman of the Khelo India Technical Committee, Rajesh Mishra said that more such leagues for the school students were in the pipeline for games like badminton, table tennis and football.

He stressed that the idea was to provide a thrust to the whole exercise of sports at the school level, by getting the private sector to join hands.

As part of the talent hunt, there will be camps held across the country, to identify players. Each player will get three days of trials to show his ability and stay in contention for selection.

Eventually, through various methods, 16 State teams will be formed. They will compete on a league cum knock-out basis in the T20 format in Dubai in November 2018. The champion and runner-up teams will be presented Rs.31,00,000 and Rs.11,00,000 respectively. The ‘’most valuable player’’ of the tournament will get an opportunity to play in minor County cricket.

All the expenses of the players, coaches and other personnel, who are selected for the league in Dubai, will be borne by the organisers. The theme of the league this time is to help students in remote areas of the country - most of whom may be underprivileged - realise their dream of graduating from street cricket to cricket in a world class stadium.