RIYADH — The 4th Youm Al-Watani Cricket Cup (YWC-16) is all set to begin here Friday. The YWC-16 tournament is organized jointly by Riyadh Cricket Association (RCA) and GK International Sports Club. RCA, GKIISC and other teams are fully geared up for the 40-over mega event. After three successful seasons, Youm Al-Watani Cup has emerged as the Kingdom's biggest softball cricket tournament. This year the tournament will be played with professional hard cricket ball. Ten top teams from Premier Division of RCA will be taking part in YWC-16. It will be a league-cum-knockout tournament played at the RCA grounds under the auspices of Saudi Cricket Centre (SCC). The draws were held Tuesday in the presence of the officials from both the organizations and the team's representatives. Following are the team groupings: Group A: Sama Steel, Lahore Lions, KFSH Blues, CKK and Riyadh Aces. Group B: Pak Shaheen, Lahore Badsha, Amer Holidays and Pak Falcons and GK Stars. Each team will play four league matches and top two teams from each group will go into the semifinals. According to Naseer Abbasi, general secretary of RCA, Pak Shaheen, KFSH Blues, Lahore Lions, are considered as the favorite teams this year. GKIISC General Secretary Mohammed Kaleem expressed his happiness to see many Saudi national team stars playing in this tournament. The teams are raring to prove their mettle in the tournament. During the course of the draws the official ball to be used in the tournament was released by Tariq Javid and Nadeem Baber, president and CEO, respectively of RCA. Karem Khan, senoir vice president of RCA, and Rayees Patil, match co-ordinator of GKIISC, were also present on the occasion. There will be two matches on the inaugural day. The first match will be played between Sama Steel and KFSH Blues at Ground No. 6 and the second between Pak Shaheen and Amer Holidays at Ground 5.
