Dhyan chand celebrations: Guest of Honour Leslie Claudius receiving a memento from chief guest Swati Kulkarni, charge de affaires at Indian Embassy. Right, winners Ahli-Sidab Club with the trophy and dignitaries. – O.K.Mohammed Ali/ TIMES OF OMAN
MUSCAT: Ahli-Sidab Club beat Coorg (Orange) 3-1 via sudden death to lift the trophy during the Dhyan Chand Day celebrations held at the Ahli-Sidab ground yesterday.
The hockey celebrations organised by the Indian Social Club Bhojpuri Club in association with Al Omaniya Financial Services and the Indian Embassy ended with an hockey exhibition by the school girls from Indian School Muscat and Indian school Al Seeb.
Ahli-Sidab and Team Coorg Orange both qualified for the final which was witnessed by chief guest Swati Kulkarni, guest of honour Olympian Leslie Claudius, special guests Hamad Hamad Al Ghafri, Mustafa Al Lawati, Mohammed Shambeh Al Raisi, hockey veteran S.A.S. Naqvi, officials from Oman Hockey Association, representatives of the sponsoring companies and a host of hockey lovers who cheered on their teams.
“It was a very exciting game, both teams played very well and that is how a good game of hockey should be played,” said Leslie, who also thanked the organisers.
The technical committee had ISC sports secretary Imtiaz Usman, Salih Thacher and Azra Aleem, who also had the spectators enthralled with their running commentary.
During the prize distribution Guest of Honour Leslie Claudius along with Charge de Affaires Swati Kulkarni and others handed the trophies to the winners, runners-up, and other individual stars.
Mohammed Ayad from Ahli-Sidab was declared the best goalkeeper where as the best defender was Nadeem from UTSC.
Taking the best forward award was Mobin from Team Coorg Orange.The Man of the final for his outstanding display of hockey was Shankar from Team Coorg Orange and the biggest award of all the Man of the Tournament was handed over to Saleh, who represented Ahli-Sidab.
The tournament was sponsored by Al Omaniya Financial Services, Passage to India Restaurant, Natural Stone LLC, Raha Poly Products, Sadolin Paints, Al Ansari Group of Companies, Air India, Purshottam Kanji Exchange, Al Taqdeer Fashions and Gulf Cricket Academy.
Speaking after the tournament, Mohammed Irshad, the convener of the Bhojpuri Wing, said: “We have been organising this special day every year and I thank all those who have come forward to support the event. I also extend my thanks to Team Coorg, UTSC and Ahli-Sidab for making the day memorable.”
Mohammed Irshad also mentioned that he was honoured to have Olympian Leslie Claudius as the guest of honour this time.
“He (Leslie Claudius) was kind enough to oblige and accept our invitation to be part of the Dhyan Chand Day programme,” he said. “I must also acknowledge the moral support provided by the Indian Embassy.”
source: http://www.timesofoman.com / Times News Service / October 29th, 2011
