Media Release
Riyadh, Jan 25: Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh (KWAR) conducted their maiden national level Kabaddi championship here at H F Stadium on January 19.
KWAR president Santhosh Shetty welcomed the guests and sponsors as well as the Kabaddi enthusiasts gathered in the stadium. Due to generous contributions from KWAR's well-wishers’ Universal Spare Parts’ Abdul Latif, Taj Restaurant’s Kevin Nazareth, Hi Chef restaurant’s Shameer Rahiman, Sallap Shetty Udupi, Bhaskar K C Jagadish Shetty, Prasanna Rao, Yathiraj Malpe, Nelson Dsouza, Mahesh Hegde, Rajesh Kumar, Hamid Nazir, Usman Gulvadi, Irfan Abubaker, Ramesh Shetty, Iqbal Tanzeem, Prakash Shetty, Hussain Shaafi, Dilip Kumar, G K Sheik, and Santhosh Shetty Ardi, KWAR were able to make the championship a dream come true. All sponsors were felicitated with flower bouquet. Vice-president Muzaffar Ali, general secretary Nelson D’Souza, treasurer Mahesh Hegde, former president Rajesh Kumar, former president of MASA Dammam Narendra Shetty and Gopal Shetty were present.
As many as nine teams from Jeddah, Jubail, Alhasa and Dammam participated in the premium event. Karavali Bulls, Sultan Attackers, Karavali Super Riders, Jubail Friends, Bhatkal Community Jeddah, Classic Friends Puttur, Universal Riyadh Indians, ISF Al Hasa and Arab Traders were the nine teams.
The championship began at 4 pm after a formal inauguration by Abu Abdullah, the Owner of H F Sports Stadium along with major sponsors. After the players were given ‘Oath of Spirit of Sportsmanship’ by KWAR’s former president Rajesh Kumar, the tournament was declared open. It was a treat for the huge numbers of Kabaddi loving spectators gathered in the stadium despite a chilly Friday evening. After the league matches among the nine teams with three groups, six teams were qualified who were divided in to two groups. Two each from these groups qualified to play the semifinals. Karavali Bulls, Bhatkal Community Jeddah, ISF Alhasa and Classic Friends Puttur qualified and reached the semifinals. It was a historic day in the history of Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh, the organization with ‘Unity is Our Strength’ slogan
stepping in to their 10th glorious year in service of needy Indians.
The first semifinal payed between Bhatkal Community Jeddah and Classic Friends Puttur saw some wonderful see-saw battle between both the teams, but an all-round play by Bhatkal Community Team won them the place in first ever finals of Karavali Kabaddi Championship 2018. The second semifinal was played between the multi-talented Karavali Bulls and ISF Al Hasa team. ISF Alhasa fought valiantly to surrender to the much stronger Karavali Bulls who reached the finals to play in the championship match against Bhatkal Community Jeddah.
The final match was a match between two top Kabaddi teams of Saudi Arabia. As expected, the crowd did not miss the thrilling entertainment which these top two teams provided to the gathering. A huge crowd was present to watch the final in the midnight defying a cold and breezy weather to cheer up their respective teams. After a few early hiccups, star studded Karavali Bulls lead by captain cool Suraj Shetty deservingly won with a final score of 27-10. The crowd and supporters of Karavali Bulls were ecstatic as history was created in the first ever national level Kabaddi championship well organized by KWAR, Saudi Arabia. The scorers were Murali and Jaykar Poojary and Ashwat Rai did a commendable job. Abbas Mani, Dilip Kumar, Bhaskar Salian and Siraj ably supported chief referee Sandip Shetty to conduct all the matches in a free and fair manner.
This Championship would not have been successful without the special efforts of executive members, and KWAR members specially Rajesh Kumar, Prasanna Rao, Mahesh Hegde, Irfan Abubaker, Nelson D’Souza, Anoop Shetty, Subhash Shetty, Jagannath Kotian, Gopinath, Bhaskar Salian , Murali, Suraj Shetty, Umesh Shetty, Arjun Murthy,
Sudhir Shetty, Salman Nour, Yathiraj Malpe, Hussain Shafi, Varun Shetty, Sunil Hegde, Bhaskar P M, Shrikant Hejamadi, Nazeer Ahmad, G K Sheikh, Iqbal Tanzeem, Jayakar Poojary, Ashwath Rai, Dilip Kumar and Nitin Rai Kukkuvalli.
Karavali Bulls were represented by captain Suraj Shetty. Arjun Murthy, Mohd Fakruddin, Sudhir Shetty, Rashid Badsha, Mohd Farooq, Varun Shetty, Mohd Razak, Raja and manager Prasanna Rao. Karavali Bulls were the champions in the Kabaddi tournament conducted by NRI Sports Federation at Jeddah in March 2017.
Along with Karavali Bulls and Bhatkal Community Jeddah being the winners and runners-up respectively, Jubail Friends were awarded the ‘Best Disciplined Team’, Mohammad Fakruddin of Karavali Bulls was awarded the ‘Best Raider’, Rashid Basha of Karavali Bulls was adjudged the ‘Best Catcher’ and Mohammad Hamad Siddiqa of Bhatkal Community Jeddah was awarded the ‘Man of the Tournament’ award.
All the winners were presented with medals and champions and runners-up were presented with trophies and cash prizes. Referee Sandeep Shetty who came from Dammam to supervise the Kabaddi matches was felicitated by KWAR president Santhosh Shetty. Santhosh Shetty thanked all executive committee members, members of KWAR, sponsors,
guests as well as Kabaddi fans gathered in the stadium. He also thanked national Kabaddi player Sukesh Hegde who sent his best wishes to KWAR management for the success of the Kabaddi championship. The president of KWAR further urged everyone to join hands with KWAR cause. The historic Kabaddi event ended with the recitation of national anthem.