Cricket tournament coming to Montreal, players from around the world attending
Posted July 20, 2022 5:40 pm.
Last Updated August 31, 2022 11:06 am.
Spending 12 hours a day playing cricket with people from different countries and religions is what many call a great way to celebrate diversity.
“We learn from each other, our culture, our language. And we’re all in Canada,” said Charles Pais, the President of Cricket Quebec
Pais has been with the club for over 40 years.
“It gives us an opportunity to understand each other and live in harmony. That is the main goal that cricket can bring to each other. That is what we need, the friendship, the harmony, the tolerance.”
As much as he loves the sport, Pais says more funding is needed to really help it grow.
“Time is spent on it and they are all volunteers, they are not compensated whatsoever, there is no funding from anywhere else except the budget is completely taken care by the membership fees. We don’t get any grants whatsoever.”
(Photo credit: Charles Pais/Handout)
Shreyas Movvar came to Montreal in 2016 to pursue a Masters in Software Engineering at Concordia University. He now plays for the Cricket Canada team.
“Cricket is a passion for me and fulfilling a dream for my dad, both of them. I used to see my dad’s trophies when I was a kid back home and I used to think what he has achieved and what he has done.”
“Cricket has been here for the past 100 years and though I came in 1975, we have the proof to it,” adds Pais.”We have the trophies, we have the shields where the inscription is there for the teams that wont he game in 1902, 1903. So it’s nearly 120 years old, that’s the record I have, that I can see. It was played in 1846 or 47 in [here in Montreal].”
“The biggest challenge playing cricket in Quebec and in Canada is that an individual has to do a job and come and play cricket which is a difficult thing. In the future if we are able to get our OD status, or something then the board will support us with contracts, it will really help us out instead of working a professional job and playing cricket. It takes some effort to do this,” says Movvar.
(Photo credit: Shreyas Movva/Handout)
Cricket Quebec is organizing its sixth annual Nations Cricket Tournament Cup. July 24 and 25 in Montreal, with teams from the West Indies, Canada, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all competing.
For more about the Quebec Cricket Federation, visit their website.
