CHK Wins ICC Development Initiative Award

HONG KONG: Cricket Hong Kong and FairBreak Global Cricket are delighted to announce that they have won the ICC Development Initiative of the Year for the Asian Region for their role in delivering the ground-breaking FairBreak Women’s International T20 Tournament 2022.

This is one of six development awards announced by the International Cricket Council for the year 2022 to reward and recognise outstanding programmes and performances put in place by member countries, to help develop cricket in their regions.

As regional winners of the award, Cricket Hong Kong and the FairBreak Invitational Tournament will now move into a pool of global nominees and are in contention for the Global ICC Development Initiative Award for 2022.

Cricket Hong Kong Chairperson Burji Shroff said: “Cricket Hong Kong is thrilled to receive this news and I would like to congratulate my colleagues at CHK for taking on and partnering with FairBreak Global in this bold initiative. One of the key reasons why we backed FairBreak was because its vision and philosophy align perfectly with those of Cricket Hong Kong — equality, inclusivity and opportunity.

“The Gencor FairBreak Invitational provides a level playing field to not just the top international women’s cricketers, but also for players from associate member nations to showcase their skills, while raising their own cricketing standards.”

Speaking about the partnership with FairBreak Global, Shroff said: “Cricket Hong Kong would like to congratulate our partners FairBreak Global, all players, officials, volunteers, and the management team who made the 2022 tournament such a great success.”

The CHK chairperson added: “We would also thank Gencor, the principal sponsors and all other commercial partners for making this possible. A special note of gratitude to the Emirates Cricket Board for hosting the event in 2022 when Hong Kong was under Covid protocols. We look forward to continuing this wonderful collaboration with Fairbreak, well into the future.”

Founded in 2013 by Shaun Martyn, FairBreak Global is an initiative aimed at gender equality, through offering greater opportunities to women, across sport, health, business, media, arts and education.

Speaking about the recognition from the ICC, Shaun Martyn, Founder of FairBreak Global, said: “It is a great honour for us to be recognised by the ICC for all the hard work we have put in over the last decade, taking us a step closer towards our goal of progressing the women’s game and giving it its due recognition.

“Winning the Asian Region ICC Development Initiative of the Year Award also offers the Gencor FairBreak Invitational T20 tournament a global platform, from which to seek greater support and partnerships. This is crucial in keeping the momentum of our previous year’s success going.

“I am grateful to Cricket Hong Kong for believing in the FairBreak mission, and for being the first cricket board to back what we were doing. Our goal is to offer opportunities to women’s players, especially from associate countries, and to raise the standard of cricket across the board.”

R Venkat, the Managing Director of Gencor, the title sponsors of the tournament, added: “We are so happy to see years of work getting the due recognition. Thanks to Cricket Hong Kong for supporting us and making this happen.”

The Gencor FairBreak Invitational 2023 is currently underway and is being played from April 3-16 at the iconic Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong Kong. The two-week tournament brings together some of the world’s top women players, from both Test and associate nations.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2023 Cricket Hong Kong FairBreak Invitational on Ticket Flap https://www.ticketflap.com/fairbreakt2023.