Gorkha Brewery has terminated the sponsorship of the national cricket team two years earlier citing ‘lack of co-ordination’ from Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).
Carlsberg, a product of the company, has been the sponsor of national team since May 3, 2002. In a letter addressed to the CAN general secretary Pradeep Raj Pandey, Gorkha Brewery officials informed the termination of the sponsorship which would otherwise have stood till May 2, 2007.
Pandey confirmed the termination and said that ‘it would
affect CAN’s program’. “The company was giving us financial support in absence of which we have to look for alternative resources,” Pandey added. The sponsorship deal valued at Rs 700,000 a year was due to increase by 10 per cent this year.
Pandey claimed that CAN was doing well for the sponsor. “As far as my knowledge, we were doing well for them,” he said. Officials for Gorkha Brewery could not be reached for comment.
After the termination, the national team will play without the sponsor’s logo against Singapore in the Fast Track Nations Tournament three-day match scheduled for April 22-24. The national team, which is in the closed-camp training now, will then return Nepal to play two ICC InterContinental Cup matches against Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates.
This is third instance of the cricket sponsor pulling out prematurely. Earlier, Indian television channel Zee Networks and marketing company Percept D’Mark had terminated contracts with CAN.
(Published in The Kathmandu Post daily on April 12.)
Read Kantipur’s Sports Co-ordinator Rajendra Gyawali’s article on this here.