October 27, 2007 New Delhi, India
Chris Cairns, the legendary New Zealand All-rounder, was in town to launch to Lotte Superskills. An event and TV programme where 15 top cricketers from all over the world assembled to play 2 days of hard fought cricket, to be crowned Lotte Superskills champions.

Teams from India, Pakistan , Australia, England, and the Rest Of The World, made up the competition, and top names like Sehwag, Sreesanth, Afridi, Katich, Razzaq, Atapattu, Justin Kemp etc tested their skills against men and machines.

Lotte Superskills is a TV cricket programme, that was initially conceived of by the late Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer, and the last two editions had seen some fierce competition from players like Akram, Cairns, Dravid, Kaif, Petersien, etc.

According to Chris Cairns, who is the only player to be associated with all three editions of Superskills, the first as a player, and the other two as a presenter, ” Lotte Superskills is hard fought. Players have a lot of pride and prestige at stake, and as a player who participated in the Event, I can assure you it’s a real test f all-round cricket skills”

The event covers :
Power Drive:
The batsman is bowled a series of deliveries from a bowling machine. Points for the hitting the ball the farthest

Stroke Master:
All about how cleanly batsman can drive and push the ball into the gaps.

Wicket Speedster:
Batsmen run one, two and three runs. Points are scored for the fastest individual timed runs.

Deadeye:
The fieldsman chases and throws at stumps within a time restriction – accuracy of throws determine score.

Fine Line:
Most Accurate Bowler – Simple test to evaluate Line & Length . The ‘ Corridor of Uncertainty ” and THE PERFECT LENGTH make the event unique and competitive

Over the years, the concept has been honed and fine-tuned by Anthony Bouchier and Navroze Dhondy, ensuring that the gripping action lends itself well to great television viewing.

Title Sponsor Lotte, the Korean based confectionery giant which recently bought Chennai based Parry’s , is looking at a 3-year association with this exciting cricket game format.

According to K V Ramachandra, Managing Director, Lotte India, ” We were delighted when Creatigies approached us with this opportunity. Lotte Superskills is a perfect ft with our target group. Children and young adults would love the fast paced action, and the excitement of meeting top class world players. We plan to extend this to schools, and get a lot of ground activity around the event as well as the telecast”

The teams:
India: Virendra Sehwag, S Sreesanth, Suresh Raina
Pakistan: Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi
Australia: Simon Katich , Travis Burt , Andy Bichel
England: Ed Joyce , Darymple , Sajid Mahmood
Rest of the World: Marvan Atapattu, Justin Kemp, Andre Adams

Umpire: Ian Harvey

Chris Cairns, who has been associated with all 3 Superskills events, was clearly of the opinion that this format has great potential, and can be developed as a great coaching aide by many schools, colleges, clubs and countries.

According to Anthony Bouchier, MD, QGH, the company that co-created and implemented the event, was happy with the 3rd edition. ” Having top cricketers come back each time to play the Event, makes us believe that this format and skill concept has the potential to grow globally”

The other companies that have appreciated the value and partnered with Lotte Superskills, are Western Union, Canon, Boost, Pizza Hut, Club Mahindra, DYC, exchange4media & Power.
Navroze Dhondy, CEO, Creatigies Communications, who has been co-creating the event, and is the marketing associate of QGH, for Superskills over the years, said,” having an aggressive brand like Lotte come on board is wonderful for Superskills. Lotte Superskills will raise the bar, and with more than 500,000 lakh outlets at its disposal, Lotte Superskills will enter far more homes and minds than ever before. It’s also very heartening to see so many other enlightened companies and brands partner Lotte Superskills, and maximising its value through concerted leveraging”

The programme will be aired as a 14 part weekly programme on Zee Sports and highlights / weekly round ups would be available on CNN IBN. According to Satish Menon, President , Zee Sports, ” we are extremely happy to be the channel partner telecasting Lotte Superskills. It’s a game show that we believe will get eyeballs that will benefit the channel as well as the sponsors of the Event”

Telecast: Preview shows: 5th & 12th October 2007
Telecast: Lotte Superskills: 14 episodes,

New Delhi, Delhi, India
Start: 16th October, 2006 Finals: 25th November, 2006

Yet another exciting season of the Hindustan Times NEXT School Soccer league 2006 got underway this morning at the Modern Barakhamba School.

With 12 top schools from Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon competing with each other the league is the most definitive soccer league in Delhi and NCR.

Twelve Teams are divided into four groups. Each team goes through a round-robin format in their respective groups in home and away format with the top 2 teams qualifying from each group for the Quarterfinals.

In the opening match of the season, Modern Barakhamba School defeated Apeejay,
Noida by a convincing of 5 goals to 0.
To promote football at the youngest level, the league has become an annual feature of the school calendar and is being held regularly for the past three years. The focus of the tournament is to develop the game in a more structured manner at the grass-root level

Hindustan Times NEXT – India’s First Youth Newspaper has taken the initiative in sponsoring the tournament. Hindustan Times’s association has taken the event to a new height. All kids are given kit & clothing for the tournament something that not even many senior teams had the privilege of.

This year witnesses another brand coming on board to support the cause. BOOST has supported the event as an associate sponsor and official energy drink, further building its huge popularity amongst kids.

According to Anand Bhardwaj, Head of Marketing, HT, ” Hindustan Times Next is proud to be the sponsor of such a well organized Soccer league, re-affirming its commitment to the overall development of the youth. We are sure the tournament will grow from strength to strength each year”

The organisers Simla Youngs ensure that the tournament is played in the best of the spirits by all participants.

Tushar Dev, Director, Simla Youngs, was delighted to see the League get into its third year, and is of the strong belief that such endeavors do provide the nursery for budding talent, something sorely missed in Indian Soccer.

“Boost ChocoBlast” has come on board to support the HT School Soccer League as the Official energy drink. It is yet another initiative by Boost to support upcoming talent in sports and encourage winning performance. The association will not just stand the brand in good stead, but also play a vital role in the stamina and success of each of the players” said T.S.Dayanand, General Manager – Nutritionals, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.

” Having nurtured and marketed the HT School Soccer League for the last three years, Creatigies feels privileged and happy to see companies and brands come forward to take up a cause, as well as gain from great brand association with the event. This year’s World Cup Soccer has added an extra zing for both the little champions as well as for us organizing the league” said Navroze D. Dhondy , CEO Creatigies Communications, the marketing associates of the league.

The main rules of the Hindustan Times NEXT School Soccer League are as under:

— For Class 6,7 & 8 only & Born after 31st Dec 1992.
— 11 playing from a total of 16 players, 25 min each half, 5 min break in between
— Football pitch size: Full size football ground.
— Goal Post Size: Full size goalposts.
— Football Size: 5 No
— Offside rule will be implemented & every free kick will be direct.
— Goal kicks or defensive free kicks within the penalty area may be kicked from the edge of the penalty area.