Media Release
Riyadh, Oct 30: Eagle Cricketers won the prestigious ‘Karavali Trophy – 2011’ by defeating arch-rivals Padubidri Friends in a scintillating final match played in Riyadh on October 28. The winning team humbled the runner up team by 11 runs.
Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh (KWAR) had conducted this tournament as part of its annual sports program as the association will be celebrating its Annual Day on November 24, 2011. A total of 24 teams from different Asian countries participated in the tournament, yet it was all Indian to be precise a Mangalorean final since two Mangalorean teams emerged at the top to fight it out for this trophy. Eagle Cricketers and Padubidri Friends, both of which registered splendid performances in the initial matches, fittingly reached the finals.
Padubidri Friends Captain Farook won the toss and elected to field first. His decision of fielding first seemed right for a while when they took 3 wickets of Eagle in the very first over. Mansoor’s pace bowling was very hot to handle for Eagle’s batsmen. At the end of over number 8, Eagle Cricketers were struggling at 51/9. However, the Last wicket partnership between Abdul majeed and Iqbal yielded 63 runs in 4 overs. Brilliant performance of Abdul majeed in the death overs, who hit 5 sixers in an over of Sattar eventually won him man-of the match award.
Facing the modest target of 115 to win, Padubidri Friends started promisingly hitting 3 sixers in the very first over of Abdul majeed. Typically once the opening pair fell, Eagles were all over Padubidri. Pressure of playing in the finals showed its worst side, Padubidri were able to score only 103 in the stipulated 12 overs which ended their dreams of winning the cup.
Bader Othman Al-Abduljabbar, Managing Director of OTE was the chief guest who patiently watched whole match from beginning to end distributed the Prizes. President Ramesh Shetty, Founder President Vijay Rai, Vice-President Royston, and Gen. Secretary Rajesh Kumar presided over the ceremony. Parvez Ali and Prakash Shetty Compered the program. Sports Sectretaries Sathish Amin, Aziz Bankal and Prakash Shetty thanked players and committee members for helping to make the Tournament a huge success.
The main attractions of this chilly morning were traditional breakfast “Sajjige-Bajil” and the “Cheer Girls” who tirelessly jumped and danced for every shots being played. Earlier Riyaz entertained the crown with his multi-language commentary. City-Max was the main sponsor of Cricket Tournament Co-sponsored by Suhana Travels, Jet Airways, OTE, Air-india, Air-arabia and Almarai.
Individual Prize Winners:
Man of the Match (Final) – Abdul Majeed (Eagle Cricketers)
Player of the Tournament – Mansoor (Friends Padubidri)
Batsman of the tournament – Elyas (Eagle Cricketers)
Bowler of the tournament – Sahil (Friends Padubidri)
Best Umpires: Bhaskar, Fayaz, Jaya Shetty, Rafiq and Khader
Best Disciplined Team: SCFC
The tournament was organized by Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh (KWAR) on behalf of their annual festival “Karavali Parba 2011”, this grand event will be held on November 24th in Riyadh. All Mangaloreans are requested to participate on the day.