Major events scheduled for Memorial weekend

There will be one thing definitely not in short supply in Western region during Memorial day weekend - cricket. Major cricketing events are scheduled to take place from Under-11 levels to senior.

The NW Region's seniors team will be playing two games against the SW Region at the Woodley fields in Los Angeles. Led by coach Ganesh Seetharaman, captain Vijay Beniwal and Manager Imran Khan, they are practicing hard to take on their rivals down south. Mark Sood, president of SCCA, Gangaram Singh, regional treasurer and Raj Ghai, member at large, are getting ready to host the big match.

NWR is also hosting a first-ever interleague U-19 tournament for the purpose of selecting NWR's U-19 team for the US U-19 National finals in Florida. "Four out of six regional leagues are participating in this tournament, and more than 55 young players are aiming for a spot in the regional squad," says regional coach and selector Prem Suri.

Regional selectors Naresh Sadasivan, Sujesh Pulikkal and Prem Suri have developed detailed selection guidelines that will focus on the interleague tournament performance and follow up camp to select the squad.

"The Western region is blessed with some young talent and have proved their abilities by winning U-19 national tournament once and the U-15, 11 and 13 tournaments twice in past two years," says Hemant Buch, the chairman of Western Region. "There is a lot of pressure on players to perform, and the selectors' role becomes very crucial in this situation. We are happy to have some of the most competent individuals as youth selectors for the region."