Karkala: Udupi Girls, Hassan Boys, Emerge Champs in Zonal Volleyball Tourney
By Shekar Ajekar
Daijiworld Media Network—Karkala (SP)
 
Karkala, Oct 12: Buoyed by the tremendous success of two successive tournaments organized at Yennehole school, President of Radha Nayak Education Trust, Daya Nayak, said that Yennehole, a remote village in the taluk, is how ready to host even national level volleyball tournaments. He also said that the school has been taking initiatives to organize more and more tournaments in the school premises, to provide the children of this backward place with a chance to witness high quality games and get inspiration and encouragement from them, to emulate high standards in their lives. He was speaking after distributing prizes at the Mysore zonal level volleyball tournament at the valedictory of the tournament organized on Sunday October 10.

Karkala block education officer, Rangadhamappa, welcomed. Kundapur sub-divisional officer, Sadashiva Prabhu, who participated as chief guest, advised the youngsters not to get satisfied by just dreaming big, but to work hard to realize them. Deputy director of youth services and sports, Seetanadi Vittal Shetty, who participated as guest, hailed Daya Nayak for being a model for other youngsters to get involved with social service. The valedictory function was presided over by Udupi zilla panchayat (ZP) vice president, Dr Santoshkumar. Trust member, Shivakumar, physical education inspector, Babu Poojary Karkala, Raju Poojary Byndoor, Madhukar S Brahmavar, Satish Kumar Shetty Udupi, president of school development and monitoring committee, Shyam Naik S, and others were present at the dais.

The Mysore zone level volleyball tournament was held on Saturday and Sunday. Daya Nayak stressed that his spirited team is every-ready to organize national level tournament, if the opportunity comes to it at any time.

The team from Udupi district in the girls under-14 category, and the boys team of Hassan district emerged winners at the said volleyball tournament which concluded at Radha Nayak Government High School, Yennehole, near here, on Sunday October 10.

Girls’ team of Udupi defeated Kodagu team, while the boys team from Hassan defeated Dakshina Kannada team in the finals. 

In the above-17 category, Udupi boys’ team emerged victorious by defeating Mysore team, while Dakshina Kannada girls team won by snuffing out the challenge posed by Udupi team.  Both the winning teams thus qualified to take part in the state-level tourney scheduled to be held in Gadag later.
 
The boys’ team of Udupi defeated Mysore team in the under-17 category, while the girls’ team of Dakshina Kannada won in the girls section.

The school, which earned accolades after organizing state level tournament in 2006 in an exemplary manner, has replicated its earlier achievement by holding the present games in a friendly atmosphere, without giving scope for any problem or controversies. The facilities provided by the authorities also came in for lavish praise from the guests.

The tournament, organized under the aegis of Udupi district administration, zilla panchayat’s department of public instruction, and Radha Nayak Education Trust, was inaugurated by Gladys D’Almeida, zilla panchayat president. ZP member from the region, Dr Santosh Kumar Shetty, who also happens to be the vice president of the ZP, inspected the guard of honour. Uday Kotian presided over the inaugural.

Matches under the tournament were held both during the day and under flood lights. The unique features of the tournament were that all the participants, numbering over 400, and representatives of schools, were given mementoes. Attractive prizes were given to winners, while medals and mementos were presented to even the losers. None of the prominent politicians, including MLAs and MP, and also deputy commissioner of the district, could not make it to the tournament, perhaps because of the present political turmoil in the state. For the general public however, this came as a blessing in disguise, as they were spared of lengthy speeches and disrupted time tables.

The valedictory function was compered by Satish Chitpady. Headmaster of the school, P Raghuram Bhat, proposed vote of thanks. Bhargavi Udupi team of Boogie-Woogie fame presented a dance programme.