Miami businessman Mohammad Qureshi has spent over US$18 million in developing cricket in the South Florida area and now through his newly formed MAQ Foundation, he wants to assist in the development of cricket in T&T.
The Pakistani born Qureshi has been instrumental in taking cricket forward in Miami and through his connections in T&T, he has decided that he wants to assist this country’s cricketers.
Qureshi is the chairman of Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) which runs the very popular US Open T20 tournament.
Recently he formed his foundation which will not only assist in the development of cricket in America but in various countries around the world. He has assisted players and clubs in his native Pakistan, as well as in Canada. Recently he held a meeting with principal of Naparima College
Dr. Michael Dowlath and gave the assurance that through his foundation, he would like to assist the school by getting more students involved in playing the game.
According to Qureshi: “This is just a starting point where our assistance will begin. I have very close relations with some principle people in the West Indies and T&T and from this standpoint I decided to assist.
I had a very good meeting with Dr. Dowlath who seems to be a man with great vision and I am going to assist.”
Initially the MAQ foundation will set up a cricket league among all students of the school at the introductory level. This will lead to mass participation and from there students will be chosen to move to the higher level.
The students who excel will get scholarships from the MAQ Foundation in terms of educational funding, school books and computers. In addition he said: “We will not pass money unto children, we will be paying suppliers, so the students will get vouchers. We want to use cricket to bring positivity to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies by extension.”
Dr. Dowlath welcomed the idea and said: “I have met with Mr. Qureshi and what a wonderful guy he is. I am very happy with the fact that he has decided to assist in the development of young people in this country and honoured that he would have chosen Naparima as his starting point.
A man with a big heart and we are sure to make his foundation proud. He would have noticed the work being done at Naparima College and decided to partner with us. We welcome him and look forward to working with his foundation.”