The 9th annual IDRF ‘Cricket for a Cause’ tournament concluded successfully at Mitre fields in Burlington, MA on July 26th. Two teams formed by current and former students from University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) competed in a very exciting final game. UML Tigers managed to beat defending champions UML Mavericks to claim IDRF title for the fourth time.  Burlington Cricket Club and Rhode Island Challengers were the other two semi-finalists.

48 teams participated in this Six-a-side tournament played with hard tennis cricket balls, helping IDRF’s Boston chapter raise more than $10,000. Each team paid an entry fee of $120 towards this unique fund-raiser. IDRF volunteers raised funds by selling Water/Gatorade and Samosas provided by Patel Brothers, Waltham. Mr. Narendra Popat 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 7 years. Hot Breads in Woburn sponsored gift certificates for prize winners.

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 providing Entrepreneurship Development Training to Women in Kutch (Gujarat). IDRF has been empowering Women Self Help Group (SHGs) for past few years by organizing & managing Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program covering from Micro Credit to Micro Enterprise. Funds will be used for building a permanent training center.

The first round of the tournament was played on July 18-19th in a round-robin format with every team getting to play at least two games. 16 group winners played subsequent rounds in a knock-out format, in which the number of overs increased from 6 to 8. Semis and Finals were played on July 26th. UML Mavericks easily chased target of 53 set by BCC in the first Semi-finals. UML Tigers had an easy victory over Challengers in the other Semi-finals.  

Mr. Narendra Popat of Hope Foundation kicked off the Finals by tossing the coin. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Popat fondly recalled his decade-old association with IDRF. He specifically singled out IDRF’s emphasis on serving the underprivileged while maintaining a zero overhead. He also encouraged the participants to continue their efforts to further the noble cause championed by IDRF. In the Finals, good bowling performance by Mavericks restricted Tigers to a very low score of 41.  Excellent bowling performance by Sabeeh Ehsan of Tigers resulted in quick wickets ensuring a victory for Tigers.

The finals were followed by the prize distribution by chief guests for the ceremony, Mr. Rakesh Pandey and Mrs. Jugnu Jain. Mr. Pandey, co-founder of social entrepreneurship forum at TiE-Boston, while speaking on the occasion, recalled several examples of businesses with social impact and praised the concept of sports-for-charity event. Mrs. Jain, who chairs the Special Interest Group forum at TiE-Boston, chose the occasion to speak about usage of technology by social entrepreneurs to bring about a positive change in the society.  Trophies, Shoes, and Gift certificates were awarded to the winners and runners up. Best Bowler was given to Ameya Shendye of Mavericks, Best Batsman to Babar Rao of Tigers, Man of the finals to Sabeeh Ehsan (Tigers) and Man of the Tournament was shared by Sanjay Anbalagan & Sagar Karalkar from Mavericks for all-round performance. Outstanding performance awards were given to – Anand & Jeff from BCC, Shankar & Irfaan from RI Challengers.

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.

Buoyed by the success of its sporting events, IDRF is looking forward to organizing its 3rd 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 us at http://www.idrf.org/.

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