Story
Ivory Coast yet to send team abroad: Association chief
01 Aug, 2023
The west African nation, which was formerly a French colony and is more famous for football players , was granted membership by the ICC on July 26 this year. Khurram Habib interviews the association chief
Bareera K.H.
A young aspiring cricketer beginning to write
Khurram Habib
Cricket, the sport of the Commonwealth, has been breaching uncharted territories in recent times. Among them are the Francophone countries like Cote d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast that was recently inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a member.
The west African nation, which was formerly a French colony and is more famous for football (soccer) players like Didier Drogba and its football (soccer) team which made the World Cup, was granted membership by the ICC on July 26 this year.
It is the 21st African nation to be given membership by the ICC and it has an elementary but workable basic, domestic structure. There are 108 ICC members, 96 of them having Associate status.
I spoke to Dosso Mekroko, the president of the Fédération Ivoirienne de Cricket (Ivory Coast Cricket Federation) briefly.
The Interview:
Q: When was the federation created?
A: The federation was created in August 2014
Q: How many clubs and teams do you have?
A: The federation has eight senior clubs, eight junior boys’ teams and five women’s teams. We have training centers in six schools. The federation organises competitions in all categories.
Q: Does the federation have sponsors or is it dependent on ICC money and personal contributions?
A: The federation has no sponsors.
Q: What does the cricket federation do?
A: The federation carries out activities like holding the championship, the tournaments, and the training of coaches, referees and scorers.
Q: How big is the pool of players?
A: We have more than 150 cricketers but the federation has not ranked the best cricketers.
Q: Where do you get your equipment from?
A: As far as equipment is concerned, we buy them from London and we also receive it from Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Q: Has the Ivory Coast team travelled abroad?
A: No, the federation has not yet sent any of its teams abroad.
Note: The ICC had sent Trevor Samura, the current chairman of the Sierre Leone Cricket Association, in 2015 to help establish cricket structures in Ivory Coast.
Photo courtesy: Federation Ivoirienne de Cricket
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