Doha: Hannan Lift Karnataka Cup, G R Vishwanath Lauds KSQ

Alexis Castelino
Daijiworld Media Network - Doha

Doha, Mar 17: Hannan, a Mangalorean team led by energetic Khader lifted the 'Karnataka Cup 2012' organized by Karnataka Sangha Qatar (KSQ), by defeating QALCO with a considerable margin of 63 runs at the Old Ideal Indian School grounds on Friday the March 16.

Apart from the nail-biting matches, the highlight of the evening was the ceremony held during the interval between the innings in the finals. Guest of honour, former India captain G R Viswanath, who flew in all the way from Bangalore, was brought in an open car on a procession along with a camel parade, tiger dance by Pallonji Qatar Team led by Chidananda Naik, followed by the committee members and children. G R Viswanath was then introduced to the players. He wished the players good luck and advised them that winning or losing is part of the game and one should accept this in true sportsmanship spirit.

G R Viswanath, who was also the guest of honor for the closing ceremony, was honored by KSQ president V S Mannangi with a 'peta', Seetharaman CEO of Doha Bank the special guest of the evening honored him with a shawl, chief guests of the evening Chidanand Naik honored him with a memento, Anil Nauital honored with a garland and guest Dr Abdullah Matar Al Dosari presented him with a plaque.

Viswanath addressed the gathering and said that he was impressed by the performance of both teams, Hannan and QALCO, and appreciated KSQ for their initiative in organizing such a big and colourful tournament. He also thanked KSQ for honoring him and spoke of his memories from 1971 when India won the test match in Australia. While returning to Mumbai airport after the victory they were honored with an open vehicle procession, he said. He thanked everyone for remembering his famous shot, and also urged all Asian teams to be united whether they were from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh and play as a team.

Chief guest of the evening and main sponsor of the tournament Chidananda Naik was present on the dais and presented the runners-up trophy and honored the players with memento and gifts. Naik was honored by KSQ president.

Anil Nauital, first secretary at Indian Embassy praised KSQ for the efforts taken by KSQ in organizing this tournament.

Seetharaman handed over the winner's trophy to Hannan and presented all the team members with individual gifts.

More than 1000 cricket lovers from around Qatar gathered to witness the finals in the pleasant Friday evening weather. The exit of popular team Pallonji in the semi-finals against Hannan was a disappointment to those gathered, as the expectation was that Hannan would face Pallonji team in the finals.

The semi-finals were played between Al-Muftah V/s QALCO and Pallonji V/s Hannan, and both the matches saw tough fights. In the first semi-final QALCO won the toss and Al Muftah put them into bat first and they managed to score 108 by losing 4 wickets in their allotted 12 overs, Zainuddin scored 33 while Khurram contributed with 36 runs. Al Muftah within 11.4 overs reached the target by their magnificent performance, Muzammil 32, Ifzal 23 but it was Nadeem’s innings of 33 that took them to the Finals. QALCO won the match by 5 wickets, Nadeem of QALCO was declared as the Man of the Match.

In the second semi final match played between two popular teams from Mangalore origin Pallonji V/s Hannan. Pallonji won the toss and elected to field first. Hannan scored 143 mainly due to Rauf's contribution of 94 which included 10 towering sixes. Chasing a formidable total, M.Pallonji kept loosing the wickets at regular intervals. In the end they lost by 70 runs. Rauf of Hannan was declared as the Man of the match for his outstanding batting performance that fetched him 94 runs. Hannan won the match by 70 and went through to the finals.

The man of the match of every game was awarded with a trophy and a gift. For the League Matches the Man of the match title was won by Parvez of Hannan, Boota of Lagaan, Raviraj of M.Pallonji, Mohd Milhan of Bin Ghalib, Rizlan of Galfar, Zainudeen of Al Muftah, Ishtiaq of Hazara XI, Nadeem of QALCO, Inam Ul Haq of Lagaan, Rauf of Hannan, Muzammil of QALCO, Faisal of Hazara XI, Ifzal of QALCO, Jishan of Hannan, Neeraj of Pallonji, Khurram of Al Muftah.

For the quarter finals Man of the match title was won by Ifzal OF QALCO, Jishan of Hannan, and Neeraj of Pallonji.

In the finals, QALCO won the toss and elected to field first. Hannan however capitalized on the opportunity and their batsmen Raouf, Parvez, & Raja gave the team an aggressive start which led the team to put up a score of 132 runs from the allotted 10 overs. Raouf scored a quick fire of 79 runs. He had a good support from Parveez and Raja who contributed 17 runs each thus managing a huge total.

In reply, QALCO had a poor start by the openers and they managed to get only 87 runs due to good bowling and fielding from Hannan.

In the second innings Hannan managed to get 111 in the allotted 10 overs, Raja and Imran scored 56 and 21 runs respectively. Chasing a target of 156 runs QALCO managed to score 93 runs due to rigid bowling and fielding from Hannan.

The umpires of the tournament were Abdul Salam from India, Anil Pereira from Sri Lanka and Asghar Bhatti from Pakistan while the scorers were Abdul Fazal Kalladka and Amjad Khan, commentators were Aijaz, Habib Ul Nabhi, SK Naidu, Sattar and Zafar Abbasi.

DJ and sound system was provided by Nitesh D and Harsha.

Team Hannan players were Khader (capt) Parves, Imran, Raouf, Jeeshan Raja Jabir Nazeer Sajjad Mohammed Shafeek, Hameed, Shakeel Shareef and Azeez.

Team QALCO players were Shahid (capt), Ifzal, Imran Khan, Muzammil, Sarfaraz, Fernandes, Rehan, Rifaz, Gulrays, Inthikab, Nadeem and Kabeer.

Individual winners were as follows:

Best batsman: Muzammil of QALCO
Best bowler: Imran of Hannan
Best all rounder: Nadeem of QALCO

Best wicket keeper: Jabir of Hannan
Man of the match in final: Raja of Hannan
Man of the tournament: Raouf of Hannan

The progamme was compered by Manjunath, prize distribution was conducted by Zafar Abbasi while KSQ sports secretary Anil Boloor proposed the vote of thanks. He thanked all the sponsors, volunteers, members and those who extended their support to the tournament.

12 teams participated in the tournament, namely, Hannan, Pallonji, Tulu Koota, Galfar, Al-Muftah, Bin Ghalib, Hazara X1, Lagaan, Masraf Al Rayan, QDC, KIA, and QALCO.

Dr Sanjay Kudri and Deepak Shetty coordinated the event.