Doha-Qatar: Indian Cricket team fast bowler S Sreeshanth graced the inaugural function of Nation Cup-2016, a flood light tennis ball cricket tournament on Friday, December 18 at 7.30 pm at old Ideal Indian School ground-Doha.
‘Nation Cup’ began on the occasion of Qatar National Day with Sreeshanth as a Guest of Honour. Siraj Virani, MD of Qad-Net Qatar and main sponsor of the tournament graced the occasion as chief guest.
ICC president Milan Arun also graced the occasion as Guest of honour. Tournament coordinators Dr.SanjayKudri, Imtiyaz, Deepak Shetty, Murthy and Surendar escorted the guests along with Asmath Ali, MD of Golden Trading, Abdul Rehmanvanoo, MD of Hind Foundation and other dignitaries. The inaugural function started by dedicating a minute silence in the memory of Aleppo-Syria Tragedy.
Tournament main coordinator Imtiyaz Hasan delivered the welcome key note and Mohammad Nabi compered the stage program. The function followed with felicitation to Siraj Virani for his great contribution in promoting tennis cricket tournaments in Qatar. Deepak Shetty read out introduction note about Siraj Virani. Speaking on the occasion, Siraj shared his emotional moments and also requested the participating teams to play in good spirit.
Meanwhile, Nation Cup coordinators join hands to felicitate Indian cricketer S.Sreeshanth for his great contribution to sports. Muthy read out introduction note on S.Sreeshanth. Speaking on the occasion, Sreeshanth shared his willingness to play cricket and shared his experience about his upcoming movies in Mollywood and Bollywood.
Another Guest of honour of the evening ICC first lady president Milan Arun asked the teams to play cricket in good sporting spirit and wished for the success of the tournament.
On December 17 evening, the draw ceremony was conducted at Wyndham Grand Regency Hotel. Team Managers and captains were present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Imtiyaz said, “This year eight esteemed teams representing 5 great counties will play against each other to bag the trophy”. Two teams from Qatar, three from India, one each from Bangladesh, Pakistan & Sri Lanka are taking part in the tournament. The names are as follows:
Pool-A
1. Nizam XI-India
2. Shark Seco XI India
3. CCRCC Pakistan
4. Hanan Qatar
Pool-B
1. Sebastian Night Sri Lanka
2. Qad-Net Qatar
3. Tusker India
4. Wintech Bangladesh
After the inaugural stage program, the first match Qadnet-Qatar v/s Tusker India took place. The main attraction of the evening was Sreeshanth as he played as a team member of Qadnet-Qatar. Winning the toss Qadnet elected to field. Tusker India batsmen scored 85 runs from 8 overs. Qadnet Qatar chased the score in 7.3 overs and won the match. Sreeshanth grabbed the ‘Man of the Match’ award.
The 3rd series Nation Cup cricket tournament will conclude on Thursday, December 22 evening with semifinal and final matches. The best four teams from pool A and B will be playing against each other in the semifinals after qualifying in the league matches.
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