Friends of CRY Club, Kuwait (FOCC) successfully conducted the 20th “ABK CRYcket” tournament on 17th Nov. Having started in 1998, by a small group of volunteers, FOCC has completed 19 years of existence and growth. This year Kuwait Oil Company had kindly granted permission for the use of the KOC Al-Ahmadi Stadium, which turned out to be a perfect location for all the tournament’s requirements – open and wide, plenty of parking, a pavilion, shaded sit-outs, even grass ground, extra spaces for practice, and all other essential facilities. A huge thanks to KOC.
The weather was ideal on the day, the venue was perfect and the enthusiasm of the participants was high. “CRYcket” is an annual softball cricket tournament, played in 7-over match format, for children in two age groups of under 12 (U-12) & under 14 (U-14). The tournament is open to independent teams, and completed in a single day, with two matches being played simultaneously.
At the close of the tournament, this year, the “Dashing Knights” clinched the winners’ trophy in the U-14 category, whereas “CCC” became the runner-up. The winner of the Under-12 trophy were “IISM” and the “MG Cricket Coaching Camp” came in second place. The best player awards went to Amer Noushad of “IISM” in the U12 category and Jude Saldhana of “Dashing Knights in the U-14 category.
Mr. Stewart Lockie, GM Retail Banking from ABK and Mr. Kamal Kumar, Regional Head, from DNV-GL graced the occasion as our Chief Guests and presented the trophies, medals and certificates from CRY India to the winning teams and participating children. The FOCC’s Souvenir was also released which included a message from Ms. Susan Varghese, Head of CRY Global Operations which was highly motivating.
For the second year, Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) were the event sponsor and hence the tournament was named as “ABK CRYcket 2017”. We sincerely thank them for the event sponsorship and hope they will continue to be our main support. DNV–GL as well as Talal & Lulwa Alajeel Education Fund continued their long support to FOCC as Gold sponsor and so also Hussein & Qaisar Int. Co. as Bronze sponsors. We had a new Bronze sponsor in Mughal Mahal, who are welcome on board. The German Printing Press continued to be our printing partners, supporting all the printing requirements. Our other co-sponsors were Al-Soor Clinic, AlMailem Tires, Career Hunters, Dar Al-Saha Poly Clinic, Payal Jewelers, Curry Leaves Restaurant, KAPICO Travels, Bazooka Digital, ITL World Travel Mgt., Aman Exchange, Wilhelmsen Ships Service and Well Wishers. We are grateful to HE the Ambassador of India, Shri Sunil Jain who has been supporting us over the years, through his encouraging messages. Our thanks to Arab Times, Kuwait Times, Times Kuwait, Indians in Kuwait.com, for giving us wide publicity.
Our un-sung background heroes are the umpires and scorers, who hail from solid cricketing background. They are our anonymous star volunteers and without whom the tournament would not be possible. Great appreciation to the parents and coaches as well for their dedication to children, and ensuring their participation from as early as 06:30 am. There were also two girl participants. Very interestingly, the captain of the winning team in the U-12 category, IISM was a girl. Proud to see them performing at such excellence.
Many new CRYbuddies, Qaisarali Merchant, Aliasger Shaherawala, Hamza Kachwala, Murtaza Petladi, Kiara Reaven, Eliza Tibu, Mohammed Ghodiwala, Moiz Ghodiwala, Hussain Yunus and Sukaina Ghasia joined us this year and took full charge of the KID’S CORNER, raffle tickets sale and running errands. Shiv Dahima, a new CRYbuddy and former CRYcket player, made the cricketing even more entertaining on the day through his wonderful commentary. A professional commentator in the making for sure.
The participating teams in the Under-12 Category were 664 Hitter’s A & B, 22 Yards Cricket Academy, Cricket Coaching Club (CCC) Juniors, Fresh Starz, IISM, MG Cricket Coaching Camp, RCA Strikers, RCA Warriors and TCA. The teams were placed into 3 pools. After the league stage, the semifinalist teams were “IISM”, “MG Cricket Coaching Camp”, “RSA Warriors” and “CCC”. Ultimately, “IISM” and ““MG Cricket Coaching Camp”” reached the finals to fight it out for the winners and runners-up trophies.
Teams in the Under-14 Category were 22 Yards Cricket Academy, Cricket Coaching Club (CCC), Dashing Knights, MG Cricket Coaching, RCA Stars and Rising Stars. These teams were placed into 2 pools. There were no semifinal matches. Winners from each pool reached the finals directly. After the final, the “Dashing Knights” were victorious and “CCC” took the runners-up trophy.
FOCC is proud to be partners with CRY – in our joint mission to help the underprivileged children, whom we also thank for the associated support, year after year. FOCC also organize two other annual events, the CRYchess and CRYwalk for children. Those interested in joining hands with FOCC may please visit www.focckwt.org, or contact any of the volunteers. With CRY, everybody wins.