Cricket Legend Sunil Gavaskar launches Illinois Cricket Association  

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Chicago IL: Cricket Legend Sunil Gavaskar inaugurated the Illinois Cricket Association [ICA] amidst immense excitement from the cricketing fraternity at a recent event held in Wyndham Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Gavaskar’s Heart2Heart Foundation is a partner in this endeavor, and during the launch, inspiring stories were told of triumph, spirit of charity, robust pursuit and enthusiastic stewardship that had happened to advance cricket in Illinois.

The ceremony attracted Chicago community’s prominent business, civic and community leaders who joined in the inaugural ceremony which was hosted in partnership with Indian American Business Council, a press release from Asian Media USA said.

Gavaskar shared some remarkable episodes of his cricketing journey replete with his record-breaking performances on the pitch particularly against some of the world’s hostile fast bowlers.

Gavaskar congratulated the leadership of Illinois Cricket Association and praised them for their vision in launching an ambitious cricket tournament enlisting youth in Midwest United States, and told of his new altruistic journey batting for the children with congenital heart ailments to provide them with free corrective surgeries.

Nagasubramaniam ‘Subbu’ Iyer, president of Illinois Cricket Association thanked Gavaskar for making the time to come. Iyer gave an overview of ICA emphasizing that the long-term objective was to acquire cricket-designated land and build the necessary infrastructure. He introduced the ICA Core Team which includes Naresh Chauhan, Palak, Nick, Swapnil, Vinod, Shernik & Nirav – the team he said is vigorously committed to “One team & One dream’.

Ajeet Singh, president of Indian American Business Council in his remarks heaped admiration on the enthusiastic cricket teams, captains and the cricket fraternity and said the palpable excitement augurs well for an exciting drive of youngsters taking up cricket passionately. The launch of ICA by Gavaskar sets in motion a significant trajectory of growth of cricket in the Midwest, Singh predicted.

Other speakers at the event included Dr. Sreenivas Reddy, chair of the Illinois Medical Board; Keerthi Kumar Ravoori, chair of the Indian American Business Council; Dr. Suresh Reddy, trustee of Oakbrook Village who introduced Gavaskar and presented a special proclamation to him extolling the cricket hero and his distinguished cricketing career.

All of them praised the cricketer and his Foundation.

Earlier, the inaugural ceremony began with the lamp lighting ceremony joined by Cook County Commission Kevin Morrison, State Rep. Michelle Mussman, and several other community leaders.

Prachi Jaitly conducted the event as an Emcee. Nick Verma, director, ICA, proposed a vote of thanks.