User:MistyGraceWhite/Syed Sultan Shah

Syed Sultan Shah is a blind cricket administrator and former captain of Pakistan Blind Cricket team. He is a former president of World Blind Cricket Council, and (as of April 2020) is the chairman of Pakistan Blind Cricket Council.

Early life and blindness
Syed Sultan Shah was born on 12th January 1970 in village Chando Maira Tehsil Havelian Distt. Abbottabad (KPK). He became blind at the age of 9 years. He got his early education from Ida Rieu School for the Blind Karachi and obtained his Masters Degree in Political Science from Sindh University Jam Shoru.

Starting blind cricket
He started playing blind cricket in 1983 at the age of 13 years in Ida Rieu School for the Blind Karachi.

Captain of Pakistan Blind Cricket Team
He was the first captain of Pakistan Blind Cricket team; he led Pakistan in 1st World Cricket Cup of the Blind 1998. He bowled the first ball for Pakistan and took the 1st International wicket for Pakistan with the third ball of his first over. He took the team in the final of the 1st World Cricket Cup of the Blind 1998, where Pakistan unfortunately lost to South Africa.

But he took the revenge in a great style after beating South Africa in South Africa by 6-0 in November 2000 and laid the foundation for future success. This was the first International series triumph for Pakistan which brought under his captaincy.

He also conducted the 3rd World Cricket Cup of the Blind in Islamabad Dec 2006 with a great success, which was the first mega event of Special persons in Pakistan.

Developing cricket for the blind in Nepal and Bangladesh
He initiated the Cricket For the blind in Nepal and Bangladesh and their teams participated in T20 and ODI World Cricket Cups of the Blind. Considering his services, the World Blind Cricket Council unanimously elected him as Director Cricket Development WBCC for Asia Region in Nov 2008 and further elected him as First Vice President in 2011.

President World Blind Cricket
He was elected President of World Blind Cricket Council twice, from Dec 2012 to Dec 2017. He is the first ever Pakistani national to chair the world organizations (in all fields).

Chairman Pakistan Blind Cricket
For the last ten years, he is voluntarily serving as Chairman Pakistan Blind Cricket Council and taking this organization to new heights. He built up the domestic cricket structure of Pakistan.

He took the initiative for the revival of International Sports in Pakistan by inviting India in Nov 201, Feb 2014 and Sri Lanka in April 2016. Where, most of the cricket teams of the World refused to play in Pakistan due to security concerns but he made successful dialogues with Indian and Sri Lanka counterpart and let them agree for this icebreaker series. The said both series gripped the attention of International & national media and projected as an initiative of peace and harmony between the two countries and on the whole gave the message that "Pakistan is safe for sports".

2018 Blind Cricket World Cup
He accepted the task of hosting the 5th Edition of Cricket World Cup of the Blind in January 2018 in Pakistan and U.A.E. That was the first Blind Cricket World Cup proposed to be hosted in multi-countries which required additional budget. Accumulating financial and operational resources for this World mega event was a hard nut to crack, but he worked extensively hard and sensitize sponsors/donors to fund this event. The success comes through hard work and determination whereas the cost of success is “sacrifice”, he sacrificed his personal life and family’s time to attain the pride for Pakistan. He inspired Bangladesh and Nepal to play their World Cup matches in Pakistan. The opening ceremony of the World Cup took place simultaneously in Lahore and UAE, connected through video link, were reckoned amongst the best world class ceremonies. The event was hosted in a magnificent manner and the grand final was conducted at the historic cricket ground of Sharjah, which was watched by almost 1 million people on YouTube.

Development of women's blind cricket in Pakistan
He launched women's blind cricket in Pakistan. Women and girls with disabilities experience double discrimination, which places them at higher risk of gender-based violence and scope of sports for blind girls in Pakistan is also too limited thus playing cricket will help them a great deal to reduce the higher risk and to showcase their abilities to the world. The first phase of Training-Development Blind Cricket Camp for Women was held at Abbottabad in the month of July and 2nd Phase will commence in Lahore in this month. Thereafter, Nepal women Blind Cricket team will tour Pakistan in January next year and Pakistan Women Blind Cricket team will play their first ever International Cricket Series.