Blind men in blue to fly to US to impart training to counterparts

Four cricketers with visual impairment will fly to the US to train their US counterparts. 

Sukharam Majhi and Nakula Badanayak from Koraput, Debraj Behera from Brahmapur, and Pankaj Bhue from Bargarh - all cities in Odisha - will fly out to Boston from New Delhi July 24. 

The team will stay in the US for around 55 days, training the US blind cricket team.  

The Indian blind cricket team, currently the reigning world champions in the T20 format of the game, have previously won three consecutive T20 world cups in 2012, 2017 and 2022, as well as the Asia Cup in 2016. 

Run by the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI), which is run by the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC), the team participates in all T20 and One Day International matches. 

CABI - an initiative of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled - is the apex body governing, organising and developing cricket for the blind in India. 

It has 30 state/ UT boards and over 25,000 players affiliated at various domestic level tournaments within India.