European Cricket League trophies unveiled!

Hailed as a cricket equivalent of the UEFA Champions League, the eagerly-awaited European Cricket League will be launched this European summer. Spain’s prestigious La Manga Club will play as the venue for the newest cricket league on the horizon.

The inaugural edition of the ECL will take place from July 29-31, at the La Manga Club, south-east Spain. The tournament will consist of 17 matches played in a T10 format and will feature the 2018 champion clubs of France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, Spain, and the Netherlands for the chance to be crowned as cricket’s ‘Kings of Europe’.

The trophies for the Winning Team and Player of the Tournament was recently unveiled in a glitzy event where the creator of the silverware, Sanjay Sharma, Head Designer at Loka Lifestyle, opened up on a variety of topics. Sharma, who has 15 years of experience in making trophies for various events revealed his motivation behind trophy making.

Winners Trophy

“Over the last 15 years I have made trophies for various sports; Golf, Cricket, Hockey, Football, Judo, Table Tennis, Tennis, Marathons, lifestyle awards. My clients include International Cricket Council, International Hockey Federation [FIH], Hockey India, Hockey India League, Indian Olympic Association, Indian Super League, Mumbai Indians [IPL], Delhi Capitals [IPL], Mercedes, Indian state governments & ministries, Sportif Judo [Scotland], Edinburg Marathon, Indian Media houses NDTV, Network 18 corporates such as Reliance, Usha, Piramal to name a few”, said Sanjay Sharma

Sanjay, as an amateur Golfer was winning trophies and felt that they did not do justice to the hard work he had put in.

“They were all “off the rack” objects of no particular design which for me was always a huge disappointment, so I threw away most of them”

It was during his stint at Swarovski that Sanjay won some corporate Golf trophies, and with them lacking the panache, it was then that he decided that he needed to change how trophies can be or should be designed, combining metal and crystals to bespoke design.

My love for trophies is simply my passion for sports and the exhilarating sensation of winning with a trophy and gripping it in my hands. Each design when manufactured gives me that feeling, I imagine myself winning the trophy and holding it aloft for all to see. For that reason, every time I make a trophy, to me it has to be the best trophy ever.

In the words of Sanjay, for a trophy to look great, it must be alive and have a soul of its own.