Kathmandu, January 31

Wai Wai Great Himalaya Cricket Academy today opened the residential facilities in Lalitpur.

Provincial Assembly Member Madhav Paudel, Deputy General Manager of Chaudhary Group Lal Babu Prasad and President of Madan Bhandari Sports Foundation Binod Kumar Shrestha inaugurated the academy built on four-ropani land in Hattiban.

GHCA, which was established in 2013 in Shantinagar, will now provide training from both the centres.

The academy, constructed with the expense of Rs 15 million, can accommodate 150 players at a time and it also has a hostel for up to 20 players, informed GHCA President Sudeep Sharma.

Apart from having separate training facilities for junior and senior cricketers, the academy also has a futsal venue. The GHCA has appointed former national cricket team coach Jagar Tamatta as the chief coach of the academy. “The establishment of GHCA would help in the development of cricket in future,” said Tamatta, who coached Nepal to One Day International status.

“As training in early stage is crucial, the facilities like this will be helpful for aspiring cricketers.”

GHCA President Sharma also handed over Rs 100,000 to Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation Secretary Purushottam Humagain to help in the construction of Gautam Buddha International Cricket Stadium in Chitwan. “The main objective of the GHCA is to produce quality cricketers in future. “We established the full-fledged academy as we need to have a strong base to meet our goal,” said Sharma. “The academy is exactly the same that we see in other countries,” he added. “We have built indoor facilities to provide training during monsoon and we also have bowling machines to help the cricketers,” said Sharma.

“We also have provision of special discounts for talented players.”

The GHCA has already produced the likes of Ishan Pandey, Sagar Dhakal, Abhishek Basnet, Himamshu Dutta, Prakash Bista, Prashant Singh among others.

Apart from providing training, the GHCA also arranges tours of India, Bangladesh and the UAE to give exposure to youth players.