Hyderabad, Dec 29 (IANS): As the conduct of an exclusive cricket tournament for Brahmins in Hyderabad drew flak from various quarters, the organisers defended their actions saying they wanted to provide an opportunity to people who never got an opportunity to play the game.

While making it clear that 'Brahmin Cricket Tournament' was not against any caste, the organisers said they had received threatening calls from some unknown people. They were planning to lodge a complaint with the police against those threatening them.

Sai Sanketh, one of the organisers, told IANS that their intention was not to hurt anybody. "Our aim was to provide an opportunity to the people associated with temples to play cricket for fun. They are not allowed to participate in tournaments and that's why we wanted to provide them this platform," said Sankteth, an MBA student.

Fourteen teams participated in the tournament held on December 26 and 27 at BSR Cricket Grounds in Nagole. Almost all the participants were priests or other people associated with temples or veda pathashalas. They included people of all age groups. There were few people above 50 years.

"It was just a small tournament organised with good intention but unfortunately some people are trying to give it a caste colour. They even want to create violence over this," he said.

A poster of the tournament went viral over social media. Some netizens vent their anger over the conditions mentioned in it. "Every player should carry their ID proof compulsorily and players from no other caste are allowed," says the poster.

Sanketh, however, sees nothing wrong in the condition. "It was only aimed at ensuring that people who don't get the chance to play the tournaments are accommodated here," he said.

"We are not against any caste or even religion. Organisers include people from all castes and religions. We wanted to organise the tournament on December 25 and 26 but on the request of a Christian friend, we postponed it by a day," he said.

He was surprised as to why some people were taking offence to the tournament. "The government issues caste certificates. Does it mean the person having certificate of a particular caste is against other castes. You also have various corporations for development of different castes. Recently the government of India formed a corporation for Brahmins. Does this mean the corporation is against other castes?" he asked.

According to the organisers, this is not the first time that such a tournament was organised. There were similar tournaments held in 2018 and 2019 and it was never ill-intentioned.