MASA Members Battle it Out at Thrilling Sports Day
Report: Ravi Karkera
Daijiworld Media Network - Saudi Arabia
Alkhobar (Saudi Arabia) Oct 24: The members of MASA recently had an invigorating experience as they gathered in large numbers to participate in the association's mega Sports Day 2010 at Aziziyah grounds.
A variety of individual and groups sports events were conducted on the occasion, from 7.30 am to 6.30 pm. The participants - men, women, girls and boys - were divided into fuor houses namely, Red, Yellow, Green and Blue.
The sports day kicked off with a marchpast and guard of honour to the MASA president Madhav Amin, followed by a briefing by vice-president and sports committee head Ravi Karkera.
As the day progressed, the atmosphere turned into a virtual battlefield charged with electrifying energy and sporting spirit. The support and encouragement from each of the houses to their team members to win the medals was worth watching. Fully charged up members, the old, the young, the teens and the kids, were all cheered on by their respective houses.
Watching children test their power in the tug of war was very entertaining, and then it was the turn of the ladies to show off their strength tugging at the rope. The highly tensed men's tug of war was not less than a war. Every participant fought it out with a commendable sporting spirit gave their all to put their houses on top. The other group game, dodge ball, for men, ladies and children, too saw some tough competition among the houses and was fully enjoyed by the participants and the viewers.
The most spectacular event of the day was ladies' cricket. The four-over knockout cricket match was conducted among the four houses. A fine bowling, dashing batting display and superb fielding with stunning catches by some of the ladies were highly appreciated by all the members. The cliffhanger final between the Yellow and Red Houses went on till the last ball. The match finished with a lovely square drive to the fence by Anusha Sanil of Red House in the last ball. Lizzie Monis (3 wickets in one over and one six), Roopa Chowta (Four sixers), Jesintha Saldhana, Farzana, Anusha (one six each), Lavina Pinto (2 wickets), Farzana (one wicket), Jesintha (maximum number of fours) and Sumitra Pradeep (a stunning catch) were the show-stealers of the exciting match.
Ashish Sanil won the indivudual championship among boys while among girls it was Anusha Sanil who walked away with top honours.
The house championship was won by Red House with 76 points, while Yellow house secured the first runner-up spot 46 points. The second runner-up title was shared by Green and Blue houses with 35 points each.
Around 330 medals were distributed during the course of the event to winners in individual and group events. The sponsors of the events were Madhav Amin, Ivan Pinto, Ravi Karkera, Eugine Lobo, Dayanand Shriyan, Vincent Saldhana, Ibrahim Husain, Joey Fernandes, Viraj Kumar Shetty, Santhosh Shetty, Arun D’Souza, Naveen Bhandary, Mohammed Shirva, Sadashiv Poojary, Chandrashekar Karkera, Babu Kotebettu, Edwin Martis, Prakash Sanil, Sherief Karkala, Sahul Hameed, Ibrahim Khader, Abdul Rahim Arkula, Dayanand Chowta, Narendra Shetty, Prakash Shetty, Sukumar Shetty, Pravin Shetty, Dinesh Shetty, Ahmed Gulam Beary, Chandrashekar, Usman Hosangadi and Jagajeevan Karkera.
It was a day thoroughly enjoyed and cherished by the MASA members and their families. The next event of the association, MASA Food Festival to be held on November 26, is expected to be as successful and enriching.