News & Pics: Alexis Castelino
Daijiworld Media Network – Doha

Doha, Feb 2: Karnataka Sangha Qatar (KSQ) achieved another milestone when its second ever soft ball floodlit cricket tournament kicked-off at the Old Ideal Indian School on Tuesday February 1 at 7 pm.

Chidananda Naik of M Palonji Qatar was the chief guest while Satish the admin and accounts manager of Qatar Design Consortium was the guest of honour for the evening.  The ladies wing of KSQ honoured the guests by presenting flower bouquets. The guests handed over mementoes to the captains of all the participating teams.
 
KSQ president, Arun Kumar, welcomed the gathering. The guests released the brochure containing full details of the tournament. Deepak Shetty conducted the oath-taking ceremony. All the participating teams were present during the opening ceremony.

 There was a wonderful march past held thereafter in which the teams participated actively, this was led by Dr Sanjay, Red and yellow balloons representing KSQ and pigeons were released into the sky by all the team captains.

The progamme was compered by dynamic Milan Aurn, while the general secretary, Arun ABB proposed the vote of thanks. He thanked all the sponsors and those who have extended support for the tournament, apart from the media, for covering the event.

The tournament was inaugurated by the chief guest of the evening, Chidananda Naik. Over 250 people witnessed the grand opening ceremony. Rain did not play a spoilsport.

The first match of the tournament was played between Hanan and CBQ. After having won the toss, Hanan elected to field. By batting first CBQ scored only 55 runs with the loss of 6 wickets in allotted 10 overs.  Chasing the target Hannan team scored 56 runs in 6 overs with the loss of 4 wickets and won the match by 6 wickets.

The second match of the evening was played between Lagaan and QALCO. Laggan won the toss and elected to field first. QALACO scored 97 for 8 in 10 overs. Lagan scored only 52 runs by loosing 8 wickets.  QALCO won the match by 45 runs.

The matches will be played from February 1 to February 9 and the finals will be held on February 10.  There are 12 teams participating in the tournament - Hannan, Pallonji, CBQ, Tulukoota, Al Muftah, SKMWA, Tech Solutions, QDC, Lagaan, KIA, ATS and QALCO.

K M Varghese, president ICC, Nilangshu Dey, president ICBF, Hassan Chougle chairman, Advisory Council ICC, Harish Kanjani, general manager Al Qamra Trading,  Milaan Arun Head of Affiliation and consular service,  Ravi Shetty , managing director of ATS, Ramachandra Shetty Tulu Koota president, Prakashchandra Ajila former president of Tulu Koota, Abdulla Monu SKMWA president Mohammed Shameem Haleyangadi and the other dignitaries were present. 

Sadanand Viswanath – former Indian test cricket player of India from Karnataka has tentatively consented to be the chief guest for the finals and grand closing ceremony on February 10.

The results of the group fixtures are as follows:

A1: Al Muftah             B1: SKMWA          C1: QALCO                      D1: Hannan
A2: QDC                    B2: TQ                 C2: Lagan                        D2: CBQ
A3: KIA                      B3: Pallonji          C3: Tech Solutions           D3: ATS

Match Schedule is As follows

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