Emirates, the international airline, provided an unforgettable experience for young cricket enthusiasts at the SOS Children’s Village by staging a cricket clinic featuring a host of star names.
As a sponsor of the Super 8 T20 tournament in Rawalpindi, Emirates hosted a coaching session with players from the finalists – Karachi Dolphins – at the Village, a private social welfare organization which provides orphans and abandoned children a home, good nurturing and a fair chance in life.
The youngsters were delighted as Yasir Arafat, Umer Amin and Naveed Malik chatted with them and shared stories about their lives as professional cricketers. The youngsters then bowled to their special guests and tried batting against them before the players signed autographs and posed for pictures.
“It is tremendously satisfying that through our sponsorship of domestic cricket in Pakistan we are able to stage events like this which inspire youngsters,” said Badr Abbas, Emirates’ Vice President, Pakistan & Afghanistan. “We all know the people of Pakistan have an incredible passion for cricket and to see how excited the pupils were to meet the players today give us great pleasure.
“Emirates is committed to the development of cricket at grassroots level and through this sponsorship we are proud to be contributing to the local community by connecting children with positive role models and showing our commitment to a nation which Emirates has been serving since we began operating in 1985.”
“It is wonderful to see Emirates take such an active part in promoting cricket, not only on the international level but also at the grassroots level,” said Yasir Arafat a Pakistani international cricketer and part of the Karachi Dolphins. “It is important that we encourage our young youngsters to develop their skills as they are the future of Pakistani cricket.”
“Our children were thrilled when they found out that the airline was arranging for the star cricketers to personally visit the campus,” said Suraiya Anwar, Director, SOS Children’s Village Islamabad. “A cricketing career is a dream for many of these children but interacting with the cricketers first-hand made this dream seem closer to reality than it ever had before. It was a positive experience as talent and perseverance overcomes all obstacles and despite their circumstances the children too can pursue their dreams and be number one just like their cricketing heroes.”
