Doha: SKMWA lift Tulu Koota Kabaddi trophy in style
Daijiworld Media Network - Doha
Doha, Feb 15: Tulu Koota Qatar, a premier socio-cultural organization of Tulunadu living in Qatar and affiliated to Indian Embassy in Doha Qatar hosted their sixth Kabaddi tournament at the Al Jazeera Academy School playground, Doha on Friday February 14.
The 8 teams which participated in the event were MCC, HSC, Advanced Technical Services (ATS), host Tulu Koota Qatar, Karnataka Sangha Qatar (KSQ), KMCA,OHL and South Kanara Muslim Welfare Association (SKMWA).
In the afternoon, host of the event multi-talented Akshatha Hegde welcomed the participating teams, sponsors of the tournament and the gathering. Tulu Koota vice-president Asmath Ali addressed the gathering and welcomed the main sponsor philanthropist Ravi Shetty of Advanced Technical Services wished all the participating teams and declared the tournament open.
Tulu Koota sports secretary Sudhir Kumar (OHL) conducted the oath-taking ceremony with the team captains. All Karnataka association presidents, former presidents of Tulu Koota and Milan Arun were present on the dais.
The tournament was played in the knockout format. SKMWA, ATS, KSQ and MCC qualified for the semi-finals.
The first semi-final match was played between SKMWA and KSQ, where after some nail-biting moments SKMWA defeated KSQ by only 2 points. Another close finish was the semi-final match between ATS and MCC, where ATS won the match by just 1 point. Both semi-final matches were thoroughly enjoyed by a crowd of over 400 people.
The top two teams SKMWA and ATS qualified for the finals for the second consecutive year.
The most awaited final was played between South Kanara Muslim Welfare Association (SKMWA), and Advanced Technical Services (ATS). SKMWA won the title by a score of 30-20. The final matches were played for 15 minutes each with two sessions whereas all the league matches were played for 10 minutes with two sessions each.
The prize distribution ceremony was held in the evening. ICC president Tarun Basu was the chief guest, while main sponsor of the tournament philanthropist Ravi Shetty of Advanced Technical Services and Jerald D’Mello of Space Trading were the guests of honour. All the guests were welcomed with bouquets.
Tulu Koota president Seethram Shetty welcomed the gathering and thanked all participating teams and the executive committee and the volunteers for their contribution towards the success of the tournament. Chief guest ICC president Tarun Basu congratulated the winning teams as well as Tulu Koota for organizing such a great event to support Kabaddi players. Guest of honour Ravi Shetty congratulated the participants as well as the winners. He thanked and congratulated Tulu Koota on organizing the tournament.
The team members of the winning team of SKMWA were Mohammad Mansoor (captain), Mohd Arief, Adam Bava, Nawaz Aboobakkar, Badruddin, Abdul Rehman, Abdul Khader and Ismail Ziad. The team manager was Abdul Kasim.
The runners-up ATS team comprised Sandeep Rai (captain) Sukesh Kumar, Sukesh Suvarna, Sujith, Shashtha Madasamy, Vishal Shamane, Nishanth, Santosh, Hari Prasad and Krishna Puthige. The team manager was Chandra Shekar.
The ‘best raider’ of the tournament was Vishal Shamane of ATS, and the ‘player of the tournament’ award was bagged by Mohd Arief of SKMWA, while the ‘best catcher’ of the tournament was awarded to Ismail Ziad.
Talented Manjunath, Milan Arun and Sathiya Narayan kept the audience entertained with their running commentary while the score panel was controlled by Sandesh Anand, Nitesh D and Preetesh Shetty. The sound system was provided by Dhananjay.
The referee panel was led by J Antony, assisted by Stesan, Donald and Rifaz. The first aid medical team was led by Rehman Bantwal. Prakash Rao and Yashpal Puthran managed the registration counter.
ICC president Tarun Basu, Ravi Shetty and Jerald D'Mello along with Deepak Shetty, Sunil D'Silva, Milan Arun, Ashmath Ali, Divakar Poojary, Uday Kumar Shetty, Ramachandra Shetty, Prakash Chandra Ajila and Abdul Majeed distributed prizes to the winners.
Akshatha Hegde compered the prize distribution ceremony while sports secretary Sudhir Kumar (OHL) read out the results and general secretary Sudhir Kotian concluded the event with the vote of thanks.
The main sponsor of the event was Ravi Shetty of ATS and Asmath Ali of Golden Trading. Senior members of the Koota, founder members, ex-committee members and officials of several organizations were also present on the occasion.
More than 400 Kabaddi lovers gathered at the venue to watch their favourite teams in action.