RCA boss to fundraise Tendulkar autographed bat

THE Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA) president Charles Haba will be a chief guest at a fundraising dinner to auction a Sachin Tendulkar autographed bat in a bid to raise £400,000 (about RwF 368,000,000) to build the first ever cricket stadium in Rwanda.Alongside West Indies cricket legend Brian Lara as a co-chief guest at the Lord’s cricket ground (also referred to as the home of cricket) on May 10, Haba will also auction another bat autographed by the current England Test cricket team.Indian cricket legend Tendulkar, who is considered to be among the best batsmen of all time, is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket alongside being the first batsman to score 15, 000 runs in Test cricket.When approached with the idea of contributing to this project in Rwanda, the 39-year old Indian cricketer chose to autograph this particular bat and be part of the growth of cricket in the East African country.“We are extremely excited because the biggest impediment to the growth of cricket in this country has been the lack of facilities and with this project we are going to go places,” revealed an excited Haba in an exclusive interview with Times Sport.In conjunction with Project Umubano which has been working with communities recovering from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis, the RCA continued the dream of the project initiator Christopher Shale who passed away last summer after he had just launched this necessary scheme.According to Haba, RCA has secured a four hectare piece of land in Masoro, Gasabo district and the first phase of ground work should start in July this year when the Project Umubano volunteers from Britain come to Rwanda.Haba further added that, “We actually want to play our first cricket game on this same ground next summer because we expect to have finished the first ground and a club house as well.”On completion, the cricket stadium will have two cricket grounds, four tennis courts, a swimming pool, club house, meeting facility and a dormitory for the academy which will host youth and development sides on tour.

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RCA boss to fundraise Tendulkar autographed bat