Seven pacers selected at Gatorade-2008

Chennai, Jan 11 (UNI) Five young pacers have been selected in the U-22 age group for the National Finals to be held in Delhi, under the Pace Bowling Talent Hunt called 'Gatorade Pacers'-2008, on January 9 and 10 here.

The talent hunt programme was launched last year by well known sports drink Gatorade.

Two U-15 pacers were also selected from 600 aspirants.

The selection followed evaluation by Chief Selector Senthilnathan and Chief Judge Ashish Kapoor on speed, accuracy and bowling action of the participants, a release said today.

The Under-15 talents would be given an opportunity to hone their skills at some of the best bowling nets in the city while the Under -22 candidates would now be trained at the National Camp in Delhi.

and later at the MRF Pace Foundation, under Dennis Lillee here.

A R Anand Kumar from Chennai and a student at Santhome Higher Secondary School, selected in the U-15 category said ''I had missed the chance in 2007, but was successful this time. I have been working hard to get here and am looking forward to use the chance''.

Irfan Khan, a 19-year-old college student from Hyderabad, who bowled at a phenomenal speed of 120 km/h at the trials said, ''I was practising hard and am elated to be included in the select list.'' The pacers selected U-15 are A R Anand Kumar and Jitendra S while Vignesh Mohan, Irfan Khan, Anwar Ahmad Khan, P M Sarvesh Kumar and R Suthesh in the U-22 category.

Later, 20 pacers would be selected from among the regional rounds (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai&Bangalore) to go through a structured training-cum-selection session by MRF Chief Coach T A Sekar and Gatorade Master Trainer Ms Nisha Verma at the national finals in New Delhi on January 21 and 22.

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