The Hindu : Sport : Sports world unites in fund-raising for tsunami relief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Sports world unites in fund-raising for tsunami relief

SYDNEY, JAN. 8. Celebrity Kanga cricket matches, Hercules fly overs and the world's best cricketers in action are just some of the features of the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal match taking place during Monday's star-studded match between the Asian XI and ICC Rest of the World XI.

The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, will toss the coin before the start of the match, along with team captains Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly. During the innings interval, two giant C-130H Hercules planes would fly over the ground, it said.

Four celebrity Kanga cricket matches will also take place during the interval, featuring past and present AFL stars including Nathan Buckley, James Hird, Brad Johnson, Gary Ablett Jnr, Jason McCartney, Peter Daicos and Robert Dipierdomenico.

$1000 for every run scored

Australian telecommunications company `3' has announced a contribution of A$1000 for every run scored during the cricket match.

The gesture is likely to swell the tsunami relief kitty as it would be over and above the several million dollars raised through sale of tickets, The News reported on Saturday. Signed match shirts from every player involved in the match and the coin tossed by the Prime Minister would be auctioned online, with all proceeds going to World Vision's tsunami relief fund.

Golf became the latest sport to pledge money to the Asian tsunami appeal on Saturday when the European Tour announced the launch of the International Relief Golf Fund with an initial donation of £50,000.

Leading players, club golfers, international golfing bodies and management agencies, golf club manufacturers and tournament sponsors are among those being invited to contribute to the fund.

FIFA, UEFA's solidarity match

Football's world and European governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, are to organise a "solidarity match" in February to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. "FIFA and UEFA, which has also pledged aid to the FIFA/AFC Tsunami Solidarity Fund, have decided to organise a solidarity match on a grand scale in a major European stadium in February," FIFA said in a statement on Saturday. FIFA has already pledged $2 million for the fund and the AFC another $1 million to restore footballing infrastructure in the devastated region and to donate football equipment (balls, shirts, boots, goals etc) to the associations or their members.

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