The 8th Annual IDRF ´Cricket for a Cause´ tournament concluded successfully at Mitre fields in Burlington, MA on July 27th. The Mavericks team formed by students from University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML) not only entered the semi-final round for the first time but also won the Championship by comprehensively beating last year's runner-up Waltham Transformers in the Finals. Transformers, UML Tigers and Phillips, semi-finalists from last year, secured berth again this year without much difficulty.

Total of 54 teams participated in this six-a-side tournament played with hard tennis cricket balls, helping IDRF´s Boston chapter raise about $10,000. Each team paid an entry fee of $100 towards this unique fund-raiser. Mr. Narendra and Jyoti Popat of Hope Foundation were platinum sponsors for the tournament. Sushil Tuli of Leader Bank, a premier financial services organization, has been sponsoring IDRF cricket tournament for the past 6 years. Hot Breads in Woburn sponsored gift certificates for prize winners. IDRF volunteers raised funds by selling Water/Gatorade and Samosas provided by Patel Brothers, Waltham.

Players and spectators appreciated IDRF volunteers´ commitment to the cause of helping the needy in India, and they were all praise for organizers for carrying out with perfection such a grand event. IDRF Boston chapter will send funds from this event for the projects undertaken this year: Construction of girls’ orphanage in Jammu and Mobile Medical Van to provide health services to remote tribals in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

The first round of the tournament was played on July 19-20th in a round-robin format with every team getting to play at least two games. 18 group winners played subsequent rounds in a knock-out format, in which the number of overs was increased from 6 to 8. Semis and Finals were played on 27th. Waltham Transformers team scored a thrilling victory over three times defending champion UML Tigers in first Semi-finals. The match ended in a tie with both the teams scoring 55 runs. Transformers advanced to finals based on the number of wickets lost. Mavericks defeated Phillips Warriors easily in the other semis with a superb all-round performance. In the finals, good batting performances by Purushotham Padmanabha and Mehul Mehta of Mavericks ensured that they could set a big target of 67 for the Transformers. Excellent bowling performance by Mavericks bowlers Ameya Shendye and Sagar Karalkar resulted in quick wickets ensuring an easy victory.

The finals were followed by the prize distribution by chief guests for the ceremony, Prof. Anil Saigal and Mrs Ranjani Saigal. Prof Saigal is Professor of Mechanical Enginering department at Tufts University and Mrs. Saigal is a computer scientist at Tufts. Both Mr and Mrs Saigal are very active community leaders and editors of Lokvani magazine. Trophies, Shoes, Printers and Gift certificates were given to the award winners. Man of the Tournament award was given to Ameya Shendye for excellent all-round performance, Best Batsman to Viren Bhagat of Phillips, Best Bowler to Sagar Karalkar and Man of the finals to Purushotham Padmanabha from Mavericks. Outstanding performance awards were given to Babar Rao and Amir Azme of UML Tigers, Chetan Patel (Phillips) and Hitesh R Patel (Transformers).

While congratulating the champions, Prof. Saigal had words of encouragement for all participants. He said that all of them were winners by playing for a cause espoused by IDRF. He urged all the participants to think about ways to contribute to the society. Many volunteers helped with Umpiring for the games. IDRF recognized 15 such volunteers without whose efforts the tournament could not have been completed with such ease.

IDRF´s mission is to support volunteer-based, honest and highly experienced non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India in serving their populations´ critical needs in education, health care, and welfare, without regard to religion, caste or creed. IDRF disbursed grants worth $1.48 million to 32 NGOs in India during 2007.

Buoyed by the success of its sporting events, IDRF is looking forward to organizing its 2nd Volleyball tournament in September. We request you all to join us in volunteering or helping us in any way you can to support the ones who need it the most. Should you have any questions feel free to email: idrfboston@yahoo.com, or visit www.idrf.org

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