Gayle presents $500,000 worth of sporting goods to schools

Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:33 AM

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Saturday, November 07, 2009

Digicel-sponsored West Indies cricketer, Chris Gayle, this week presented over $500,000 in sporting equipment to 16 primary and high schools across Jamaica from funds raised from the two recently held Digicel-sponsored Pro 15/15 cricket tournaments in St Ann and St Elizabeth, respectively.

Gayle, who was recently reappoinmted captain of the regional side for the three-Test tour of Australia this month, said he was happy to have been a part of the effort.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle (right) presents female students of the Rollington Town Primary School with cricket gear at the school grounds earlier this week.

"I am very happy that we embarked on this initiative to donate this equipment to the 16 schools across the island. No doubt that having the right equipment will help unearth talented sports men and women that are in these schools and bring out the aspiring cricketers, netballers or footballers to sustain these games in Jamaica," said the Jamaican.

Throughout this week, Gayle travelled across the island handing over computers, football gear, cricket pads, bats and netball gear to a total of 16 schools, including his alma maters, Excelsior High School and Rollington Town Primary in Kingston.

"It is always great to have sponsors like Digicel on board with these ventures and Pro 15/15's success is largely attributed to their support," said the hard-hitting batsman.

Shelly-Ann Curran, Digicel's senior sponsorship manager, said "sports development is near and dear to Digicel". She added: "It is great to see the progress of our cricketers, athletes, footballers and netballers on the national and world stages, and sponsoring events such as this, is another way for us to give value back to our customers."

The Digicel Pro 15/15 cricket tournament was a huge success and featured past and present star cricketers from across the Caribbean region. Among them were Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jerome Taylor.

"The entire day was a huge success and I also have to thank my fellow cricketers and Usain Bolt for joining in on this initiative to connect with local communities and raise funds to support this donation to the schools," said Gayle.

Some of the other schools that benefitted from the donation were Marcus Garvey Technical High, St Hilda's High, Kingston College, Oracabessa Primary and Discovery Bay All-Age.

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