George Abraham, driven by a vision

MUMBAI, APRIL 11: Ten years back, in a tiny school in Dehradun, a group of boys were playing cricket. As the ball rattled across the mud ...

MUMBAI, APRIL 11: Ten years back, in a tiny school in Dehradun, a group of boys were playing cricket. As the ball rattled across the mud pitch, a commentator ad-libbed, Kapil Dev comes in to bowl, and Azhar has smashed it for a four.

Among the spectators was a visitor from Delhi. He saw the excitement the unusual match was creating, and an event was born.

Yesterday, that visitor, George Abraham, was felicitated here by the National Sports Club of the Blind NSCB for his outstanding contribution to sports for blind in India. Abraham, partially blind himself, founded the Association for Cricket for Blind in India ten years ago, a movement that culminated in the first-ever World Cup for the Blind last year in Delhi.

8220;That day in Dehradun,8221; Abraham says, 8220;was the first time I saw blind boys playing cricket. I had just chucked an advertising job with Ogilvy and Mather, and was touring the blind schools in the country on a research project. The schools were in a pathetic shape, but these boys wereenjoying themselves. There, a seed was planted in my brain.8221;

Abraham organised the first National cricket tournament for the blind at New Delhi in 1990, with Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar as patrons.

Three more Nationals followed, and at Ahmedabad, Abraham unveiled his dream to a charged audience 8212; to organise a World Cup.

8220;Cricket is good for the blind in many ways. Firstly, it was instilling in them the five Ds 8212; the virtues enumerated by West Indian great Conrad Hunte. Discipline, Determination, Desire to succeed, Dream and Drive. Second, it was telling the world that ability in the blind exists. They were diving, catching and displaying 100 per cent commitment,8221; Abraham said.

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Abraham said he was keen that blind cricket finds sponsorship, and not be run on charity. 8220;My philosophy says sponsorship suggests ability, while donation and charity, however important, endorses disability. I find some of the cricket players also thinking along these lines now. Fortunately for us, companies have beenlining up wanting to be involved.8221;

The man who founded the World Blind Cricket Council WBCC now thinks it is time others took charge of the movement. 8220;I don8217;t want it to be a one-man show. If it cannot sustain without me, the movement would have failed.8221;

Abraham revealed the last date for bids for the next Blind World Cup venue ends on May 31, 1999. The fourth annual NSCB awards also decorated Vilesh Bhatt, National blind chess champion and International cricketer, with the outstanding sportsperson award, and Society for Visually Handicapped, Calcutta, an organisation promoting mountaineering adventure for the blind, with the Outstanding Institute award.