BATA & TANA Cricket cup'2009 sponsored by Western Union is a Huge Success
Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) conducted the 6th Annual BATA Cup Cricket tournament on July 11th and 12th, 2009 in Fremont, California. This year TANA (Telugu Association of North America) co-sponsored the tournament, hence it was named BATA & TANA Cricket Cup.
BATA donated the proceeds from this event to Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF).
As in the past, there was a huge response to the tournament this year as well. However, due to logistics, the tournament was limited to 42 teams. Majority of participating teams were from CricBay and TCA leagues. The format of the tournament was 6-overs-6-aside. There were 14 groups of 3 teams each and the first round was round robin format. Toppers in each group (14 teams) go to 2nd round from then on it was Knock Out. The top 8 teams made it to the quarter finals. There were couple of big upsets in this stage a young team “TCC” knocked out the Super 6’s team (they beat last year winners “Champs”) & Spartans (winners 2 year back and were one of the favorites this year). In the Semi finals Warriors defeated the crowd favorites TCC. Vijay (Warriors) batted very well scoring 37 runs (2 sixes) and made sure TCC was under lot of pressure. TCC folded meekly for 18 runs. Himesh Patel bowled very well claiming 3 wickets.
In the other semis Hurricanes defeated Pacers convincingly and Bijoy was the man of the match.
In the finals Warriors scored 77 in 6 over’s. Vijay played anchor role again scoring 40 runs (3 sixes). He was well supported by Himesh and Amol. In reply Hurricanes started in a disaster fashion loosing both Bijoy & Yogesh in the very first over and never looked comfortable. Hurricanes managed to score 52 runs. Warriors won the finals convincingly and Vijay was the MVP of the finals.
The tournament started at 8AM and went all the way through 7PM on both the days. The enthusiastic spectators (consisting of spouses, children, family & friends) provided a lot of support by cheering their favorite teams. The players responded equally by treating the crowd to a flurry of 4’s and 6’s as well as some excellent bowling & fielding. Overall, the tournament was conducted in a very professional and organized manner and was a great success.
The following are the results from the tournament:
Semi Finals:
Warirors vs TCC (Warriors won the match)
Hurricanes vs Pacers (Hurricanes won the match)
Finals:
Winners: Warriors
Runners: Hurricanes
Max 4’s & 6’s: Vijay Peruri (Warriors)
MVP of the Finals: Vijay Peruri (Warriors)
MVP of the Series: Yogesh (Hurricanes)
During the award presentation ceremony, Prasad Mangina (BATA President) thanked all the teams for their participation and support. Prasad then invited the sponsors and guests onto the stage such as Nidhi Gupta (Marketing Manager – Western Union), Sri Ranga (Sri Auto Services), JayaRam Komati (TANA President), Satheesh Chilukuri (Ex-Chairman of TANA Board of Trustees), Veeru Vuppala (TANA Jt. Secretary),
Murali Krishna Moorthy & Venkat Maddipati (Sankara Eye Foundation – SEF) and BATA executive committee members.
Prasad thanked Western Union & Sri Auto Services for sponsoring the event and JayaRam garu for co-sponsoring the event and announcing attractive cash prizes to all the winners on behalf of TANA. He also thanked both the TCA & Cricbay organizations for their support. And specially thanked Shiv (Pacers & Cricbay), Srinivas Haridas & Gaya Nagarajan from TCA.
Speaking at this occasion JayaRam garu congratulated BATA team and all the players for their dedication for a good cause. He said, TANA will continue to support the Cricket Cup in future also. Nidhi Gupta of Western Union speaking at this occasion mentioned that WU is happy to be part of this event. She commended BATA and the participants for the job well done and also for donating the proceeds to SEF. Venkat and Murali (SEF) speaking jointly thanked BATA for choosing SEF as the beneficiary of the event. They applauded BATA for continued support and partnership for the past eight years. They stated that the funds received today will play significant part in SEF’s effort to provide free Eye clinical services in India.
Nidhi Gupta (WU) & Sri Ranga (Sri Auto Services) presented the trophies to the runners and winners of the tournament.
BATA & TANA offered their support to “Yasayvi” (12 year old) to buy a motorized wheel chair. She is suffering from “Cerebral Palsy” (can’t talk or walk due to severe damage to brain).
BATA executive committee consists of Prasad Mangina(President), Srilu Veligeti(Vice President), Srinivas Kolli(Secretary), Ramesh Konda(Jt. Secretary), Srini Mangipudi (Treasurer), Vijaya Aasuri, Kamesh Malla, Venkat Malladi, Sireesha Battula, Veeru Vuppala, Karun Veligeti, Yugandar Karakala (Ex BATA President) & Ravi Thiruveedula (Ex BATA President) thanked all teams & volunteers (Vijay Peruri, Kalyan Parvatha, Sai Kiran, Shiva Adabala, Ajay Paladugu & Chirag Panchal etc.) for their support in organizing this event successfully.
BATA committee also applauded efforts of Kalyan Kattamuri for his commitment to the tournament right from formulating the ideas, team registrations, organizing, and other activities.
Food for this tournament was sponsored by Swagat Indian Cuisine( JayaRam garu), Hot Breads (Raman Sanchula), Peacock Indian cuisine (Prasad VVD & Prashant) and Mayuri (Sampath).
Pictures from the event can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/batacausa2009/BATATANACricketCUP009?feat=email#
