The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in collaboration with the Education Ministry, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday distributed 4,800 free tickets for the upcoming ICC World T20 Championship to 245 schools across Guyana.

The presentation of the tickets was held in the Queen’s College Auditorium.

Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony was present at the handing over ceremony and he noted that the initiative is aimed at getting more young people to participate in the upcoming event.

He said that the ministry had approached the WICB with the idea of distributing tickets since over 150 secondary schools in Guyana are involved in cricket. The WICB, however, exceeded the request of the Ministry and issued tickets for 245 schools instead.

Anthony said he is pleased that the ICC allowed them the opportunity to have so many young people involved. “We hope that this gesture will also help in getting more young people involved in cricket and when they go out there and see the performances of international teams, they themselves will be inspired,” Dr. Anthony said while he encouraged the students to come out and support the West Indies.

Students from 145 secondary schools and 100 primary schools from all across the country will benefit from the free ticket distribution.

Also at the presentation were President of the Guyana Cricket Board, Chetram Singh, Events Manager Kausiyal Jainarayan Singh, Promotions and Corporate Services Officer Sabrina Panday, Director of Sports Neil Kumar and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Pulander Kandhi who officially handed over the tickets.