SINGAPORE - Cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni, also known as MS Dhoni, launched his academy in Singapore on Saturday (Jan 20).

The MS Dhoni Cricket Academy is located at St Patrick's School and is the 36-year-old's second academy outside of India. The first was set up in Dubai last November.

More than 300 students have signed up for the academy, with many of them present at the official launch on Saturday.

Former India captain Dhoni performed a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the academy, as those present applauded.

He said: "It is important to provide facilities to the youngsters and at the end of the day, no one should say that they did not get to do something because they did not have the facilities.

"What I want to focus on is how to approach life in general. Youngsters are so result-oriented nowadays that we actually forget about the process. The process is more important than the results, and if you take care of the process, you will get the results."

The academy will follow a structured curriculum developed by Dhoni, who won International Cricket Council (ICC) trophies in all formats of the game (2007 World T20, 2011 World Cup, 2013 ICC Champions trophy).

He will work with Singapore women's team captain G.K. Diviya, who competed at last year's Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, as well as Singapore men's players Chetan Suryavanshi and Chaminda Ruwan.

Registration for the MS Dhoni Cricket Academy is open to children aged six and above, with corporate packages also available.

Please visit http://academia7.com/singapore/index.htm for more information.