Harbhajan opens cricket academy in Kolkata

Kolkata, April 9 : Out-of-favour India offspinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday opened a new cricket academy here with an aim of diverting youngsters to cricket from the clutches of substance abuse and usage. It is the offie's fifth academy in the country. One of them is in the Punjab. "For me one of the prime reasons to start an academy in Punjab was to de-addict youngsters. The idea is to divert them towards sports," he said at the launch of the centre of the Harbhajan Singh Institute of Academy (HSIS) at the Delhi Public School in Megacity, New Town.

The 34-year-old spinner said the academy will provide youngsters a platform to enhance their cricketing talent. "We're not here to make money, we are only here to promote the game of cricket. That is what our agenda is. There's no dearth of talent in Bengal or in India, all we need is to give them is best infrastructure and facilities. Who knows we might just produce another Dada (Sourav Ganguly) from here," he said. IANS