Barinder Saluja, Chandigarh,Aug 4 : Dinesh Mongia, former Indian cricketer, has so much passion for cricket, that today also he is attached with cricket in such a way that he has become a Saviour of underprivileged cricket lovers by starting “Dinesh Mongia Cricket Academy” in DAV College, sector 10, Chandigarh. In his academy he trains those students from local schools who are economically backward and cannot afford the high expenses of cricket training in India. Dinesh has taken a step to promote cricket among these type of students from local Model Schools have been training them for 3-4 hrs daily, free of cost, and had also arranger for some grant from Chandigarh Administration & Education Department, along with sponsorship from Sri Sai Mandir Trust, sector 29, who have donated T-shirts and cricket balls to the academy for these Children’s.
These students are so passionate about learning cricket that after attending there individual schools, they cycle down to sector 10 academy even as far as from Manimajra, Dadumajra and Dhanas colony which are almost 10-12 km away from the academy. Most of the children are fans of Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan from India and Brendon McCullanum, Shane Warne from Overseas countries. They have clear vision to what they actually want to be as, a batsman or a bowler, or a wicket keeper or all rounder.
Dinesh Said, “I am very much enthusiastic about the passion of cricket among these boys and trying hard to get as much as sponsorships for them so that i can find the best talent from among them. I have also talked to Mr. Ram Niwas for getting a grant for the diet of these boys so that along with training they should also get proper diet.” He also thanked the management of DAV College for permitting to train the boys on the college grounds, which is responsible of producing world class cricketers like Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma, Dinesh Mongia himself and Yuvraj Singh, and also thanked Sri Sai Mandir trust management for donating T-Shirts and cricket Balls to the academy. He is also looking forward in getting many voluntary agencies who will sponsor kits and other required material for training purposes.