Amit Shah's wife Sonalben Shah (left) and former Indian captain and Arjuna awardee Shubhangi Kulkarni (right) were present at the opening ceremony.
Gujarat Women's Championship 2024 has started at Narendra Modi Stadium. Organized by Big Bash Sports Foundation and Sahajanand Foundation in collaboration with Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), the event aims to honor and showcase the extraordinary talent of women cricketers while celebrating the spirit of women empowerment. Chief Guest Amit Shah's wife Smt. Sonalben Shah inaugurated the championship and hailed the growing opportunities for women in sports. Guest of Honour, former captain of Indian women's cricket team and member of BCCI Apex Council and Arjuna awardee Shubhangi Kulkarni emphasized the role of such a platform in advancing gender equality in sports. The tournament which started from November 19 will be held till November 24.
We expect women cricketers from Gujarat to play for Team India – GCA Secretary Anil Patel Secretary of GCA Anil Patel said that 'We were requested that we want to organize such a plan. GCA has also participated in this planning to provide a good platform.' How this tournament is important for women's cricket. In response to his question, Secretary Anil Patel said that 'Scouts of the franchise of WPL, which started two years ago, will also be present.' Now who will be present in this tournament… GCA Secretary Anil Patel said in response to the question that 'Arjun Award winner Shubhangi Kulkarni was present in today's opening ceremony. So in the final, we are trying to ensure that Mithali Raj will also be present and other cricketers will be present.' Very few Indian level cricketers have come to Gujarat. So our effort is that in women's cricket they play in women's premier league and Indian cricket team from Gujarat. Currently 2-3 cricketers from Gujarat are playing in Challengers Trophy. So we expect him to play for WPL or Indian team.
Team India will perform very well in 2025 World Cup- Former captain Shubhangi Kulkarni On the Indian women's cricket team's poor performance in pressure situations and what improvements they need to make in the 2025 Women's World Cup, Arjuna awardee Shubhangi Kulkarni said the team still has a lot of time and the coaches and support staff have thought about it and the areas for improvement. On they will work. So on improving the team, he said that running between the wickets and fielding have to be worked on. India's bid for the 2036 Olympics has seen women step up, and it is said that parents in some parts of India still refuse to allow their daughters to play. What do you think about this? In response to which Shubhangi Kulkarni said that now India has started to change about this. You see this tournament has started in Gujarat. The rest of the states are also thinking of starting such tournaments.'
Started this tournament for girls to progress – Sheetal Pithavala Founder of Big Bash Sports Foundation, Sheetal Pithavala said, 'I do a lot of tournaments. I do it at school level too. But when my foundation works in slums. At that time I thought that the girls from the slums should be trained and brought forward in cricket. Then I saw that it was not that level strong. So they started this tournament to get ready for it. On the selection process, he said that we have selected girls from Saurashtra, Anand, Surat, Baroda, Nadiad for this tournament. Scouts from different franchises of WPL are going to attend this tournament. They will thus select and train that girl and take it forward.
'We want to take girls forward through three things when it comes to support. Education, Sports and Holistic Nutrition…we also provide financial assistance for these. We are now also trying to get more girls to join and progress in this tournament. Now we will talk to Baroda and Saurashtra Cricket Association to start such initiative for girls there as well. Through GCA, we are giving a platform to girls to take them forward with this tournament.'
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
