Maldives U-19 players help AIZ Academy secure runner-up in Asian Tennis Ball Cricket Championship

The team of AIZ Academy from Maldives, which won the runner-up position in the Asian Tennis Ball Cricket Championship, includes two players from the U-19 national cricket team. This was the first time a team from Maldives participated in the Asian Tennis Ball Cricket Championship. Among them were strong countries like India, UAE, and Sri Lanka, while the Maldivian team competed in the final and secured the runner-up position. This tournament was organized by the Asian Tennis Ball Cricket Federation. In this year's competition, 13 countries participated, with Maldives competing in Group A alongside Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Nepal. The countries included in Group B were Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Bhutan, UAE, and Afghanistan. Maldives lost the final of the tournament against Bahrain by a margin of 21 runs. Maldives reached the final by defeating neighboring Sri Lanka by 9 runs in the semi-final. Held in Chennai, India, from October 26 to 29, the Maldives' AIZ Academy team performed well, and two players from the U-19 national team also participated and displayed good performance. Young players gain many experiences from such tournaments, and achieving good results serves as further encouragement. Regarding the experience of the tournament, young player Yusuf Raihan Aflah stated that this was a different experience. Having previously played hard ball cricket, being required to play soft ball cricket in this tournament was a challenge for him, according to Raushan. However, it was a tournament where he learned many things, and his hope is to achieve even better success in future tournaments, Raushan said. "Since we achieved such a great success in this tournament, I am very happy. I will work to achieve even better success in the next tournament," Raushan said. Another young player in the runner-up team is Ahmed Nisham Nisaah. Nisham has also stated that this was a completely new experience for him. However, playing against strong countries and achieving good results gave him encouragement, and he noted that he was very satisfied with the achievement obtained. "This is a completely new experience for me too. I played in a completely new tennis ball tournament. This was a very good experience. Since we got results after playing against excellent countries, I became very happy," Nisham said. The squad from Maldives participating in the Asian Tennis Ball Cricket Championship includes 14 players and 5 officials. This is a tournament with a long history of over 70 years, and teams from various countries compete in this tournament every year.