Media Release
Qatar, May 13: KMCA is hosting the second Tippu Sultan Cup soft ball cricket tournament for Kannadiga communities of Qatar, starting from May 18 and concluding on May 21.
The tournament will be played at old Ideal school ground at Doha Qatar. Seven teams from Karnataka based organization will take part in the tournament. The teams are Tulu Koota, Mangalore Cricket Club-MCC, Bunts Qatar, South Kanara Muslim Welfare Association-SKMWA, Social Forum-Karnataka Chapter, Indian Friends Circle- Karnataka Chapter and Karnataka Muslim Cultural Association-KMCA.
Keeping up the practice of honouring sports personalities from other sports, for the opening ceremony KMCA has invited Farman Basha. He is an Indian powerlifter. Basha represented India at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He won a bronze medal at the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China. However, this was later upgraded to a silver medal. He was awarded with the Arjuna Award in 2008. In 2010, he received the Ekalavya Award, in 2008 He also received Chief Minister's award for an outstanding sportsperson from the Governor of Karnataka. The organizers have also invited Sakina Khatun. She is an Indian powerlifter who won bronze medal in Weightlifting at the 2014 Commonwealth Game. She is the only woman to have won a Para Olympic medal in Indian History and presently she is 3rd seeded in the world of weightlifting. The chief guest will be Arvind Patil, president ICBF.
For the closing ceremony on May 21, KMCA has invited the legendary Hockey player and former Captain of Indian hockey Padmashri Zafar Iqbal as guest of honour. Padmashri Zafar Iqbal was a member of the 1980 Summer Olympics field hockey team that won the Olympic Gold Medal for India. He has captained Indian squad in various international events, among them being Asian Games, in 1982 and 1983 Champions Trophy, and the 1984 Summer lympics. Iqbal was awarded the Arjuna Award, the highest award given in sports by India. He has served as chief national coach for Indian hockey from early 1993 to October 1994. Iqbal currently works as manager for Indian Airlines and is a national selector for Indian hockey team. He was awarded PadmaShri Award in 2012.
The chief guests for the closing ceremony will be KM Varghese, president IBPN and Girish Kumar KR, president ICC.
KMCA president Niyaz Ahmed has requested all the Indian communities to gather in large number as a mark of respect to the Tiger of Mysore ‘Tippu Sultan’. He also stated that KMCA has planned a spectacular opening and closing ceremony and requested all Kannadigas to attend in large number and witness a spectacular tournament.
The sponsors of the event are: M/s Saad Al-Kaabi Steel & Aluminum Co.WLL, M/s ALM Infrastructure Solutions, M/s STS Group, M/s Diplomat Fire Systems, M/s Saleh Bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi Est, M/s Golden Trading & Decorations, M/s Euro Parts, M/s Gibca Furniture – UAE, M/s Texas Technical Services, M/s Stream Acoustic & Thermal, M/s Qatar Design Consortium, M/s Apollo Enterprises, M/s Hempel Paints- Qatar, M/s New Trade Links LLC.