Lahore-The 5th Shehbaz Sharif Twenty20 Ramadan Cup Floodlight Tournament 2018 inaugurated with a colourful opening ceremony held at Government Degree College Satellite Town Ground, Rawalpindi.

Tournament Director Masood Anwar told this scribe that Steering Committee chairman Hanif Abbasi and Mayor Rawalpindi Sardar M Nasim formally inaugurated the tournament.

Giving the brief history of the tournament, Masood said that 39 teams of Union Councils of Rawalpindi are taking part in this tournament. The teams have been divided into 8 groups and 1 team from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals. The tournament will be played on league basis and in all 83 matches will be played in this Ramadan Cup tournament. Speaking on the occasion, Hanif Abbasi said this tournament is being arranged on self help basis as there is no expenditure on part of government functionaries. “Rs 300,000 prize money will be handed over to the winners while the runners-up will get Rs 200,000. Besides, Rs 3000 will be given to man of the match of each match to be played during the tournament. Cash prize for the best bowler, best batsman and best all-rounder will also be awarded.

Abbasi said Rawalpindi has become a sports friendly city due to the efforts and funds provided by Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif. He also appreciated the efforts of committee comprising Masood Anwar, M Wasim, Tauqeer Shah, Snober Gul, Babar Shah and Malik Sohail Awan. “As many as 70 floodlit cricket grounds are being constructed, which will be completed very soon. Besides this, football grounds and hockey grounds with astro-turf have been laid down, which are being used by the youth of Rawalpindi. Mayor Rawalpindi Sardar Nasim lauded the efforts of Hanif Abbasi for the promotion of sports stadiums of different games in Punjab and Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif for providing the funds for these projects.

 M Wasim, Sohail Tanveer and Sabih Azhar were also present at the opening ceremony.

The first match was played between UC 30 and UC 44, which was won by UC 30. Three matches will be played daily at Govt Degree College Cricket ground, Jamia High School Cricket ground and Muslim High School Saidpur ground.