Nasir plans live TV cricket academy in Dubai

Dubai - HKSZ Cricket Academy promoter is looking to be a game-changer for the sport in the UAE

England-based HKSZ Cricket Academy promoter Nasir Ramadan will look to enhance his reputation as one of the innovative cricket academy promoters with the opening of a first-of-its-kind live TV cricket academy in Al Qusais, Dubai.
After having successfully managed the London Academy, Nasir is looking to be a game-changer for the sport in the UAE too. "It's a novel concept and gets the players as well as parents involved,'' he said.
"At a normal academy, parents aren't aware of the progress of their kids and have to depend on the feedback of the coaches. However, at the live TV academy, they can monitor such progress. Even the trainees are provided an edge as they can evaluate their performance on their own," said Nasir.
Having helped the underprivileged players in England at his London-based academy, Nasir is looking for a similar approach at his proposed 25,000 sq ft academy, which is likely to commence in six months' time. 
"I have come up in life the hard way. I want to help the society as much as possible. We will be providing free coaching and other facilities to underprivileged kids here. While choosing players in London, we adopted a selection criteria for players under this category and, here in the UAE too, we will use a similar a pattern. And mind you, there will be no limit to the players admitted," he said.
England-based trainees from HKSZ, formed with the initial letter of the names of his children - Husnain, Kaif, Shaamil and Zikriya - were flown into Dubai last month for the four-team HKSZ Youth World Cup. 
They defeated teams from Pakistan and India and also the ICC Academy to win the indoor and outdoor titles, riding on their impressive display backed by Level 3 coaching. It was a double bonanza for Nasir as Sheikh Saeed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum graced the occasion and encouraged the players.
Nasir hopes to provide quality coaching to make it the top cricket academy in the UAE. 
"Money has never been a problem for me. Cricket has been my passion and I have gone out of my way to help deserving players. My family has always supported me in this endeavour. Now, I am looking forward to give something to the UAE and Dubai, which I consider my second home," Nasir said. 
ramdas@khaleejtimes.com