Media Release
Dubai, Feb 24: SMMC Dubai (St Mary's Mangalorean Community) organized a day-long, first ever, outdoor sports event ‘SMMC Sports-2020’ with Cricket and Volleyball tournament on February 21. As many as 28 Christian teams all over from UAE participated in the mega event at Vision Cricket Center, Al Nazwa, Dubai-Hatta Road. Magic XI in Cricket and Karaval Milan, Dubai in Volleyball (men) were declared as winners.
As various sports team members arrived in the morning, the registration process was carried out by efficient SMMC volunteers. Dubai's cheerful and versatile comperes Vernon D’Souza and Lanita Noronha initiated the opening ceremony with the introduction of SMMC. Helen Lobo, SMMC core member, rendered the welcome address. SMMC's spiritual director Fr Denis Saldanha recited the opening prayer and conveyed the message to enjoy the tournament and to play with true team spirit. Then tournament was officially declared open by Fr Denis Saldanha.
SMMC's core member Vivian Fernandes carried out the oath taking ceremony. After the brief team introduction, match officials Cleevan Mendonca and Noel Almeida briefed to the participating teams about the rules and regulations of the tournament. As per the fixtures stated earlier in the tournament format, initial league matches for cricket and Volleyball started simultaneously in four lush green grass grounds.
Throughout the day, supporters, guests and prominent members of Konkan community visited the venue and were kept engrossed in the spectacular matches between various teams of Cricket and Volleyball. The live streaming of the entire tournament was captured by ASL live and was showcased on you tube and other social channels. Live scoring was done by cricHeroes.com, whereas live commentary was given by Gavin. DJ Calvin kept the music flowing throughout the day and Roystan Kiran captured the lively moments of the entire sports event.
In the evening, award presentation ceremony started with felicitation to sponsors and supporters of the event. SMMC core member Leela D’Souza thanked all the sponsors, participating teams, match officials, umpires, referees, Vision Cricket Center officials, volunteers, comperes and all those contributed to the success of the event.
Sponsors of event were felicitated with mementos by the spiritual director Fr Denis Saldanha. Main sponsor of the event was Martin Aranha, Globelink West Star Shipping. Co-sponsors were Joseph Mathias, Merit Freight Systems Co LLC Dubai, Michael D’Souza, Ivory Grand Hotel Apartments, James and Shobha Mendonca, Reliable Fabricators LLC, Baburaj, Proton Electronics Trading LLC. Support sponsors were Leo Dsouza, Canara Restaurant, Rudolf and Kishore, Power Plus Electrical Switchgear Inds LLC, Urban Sequeira, Valerian Saldanha and family. Media support was by Daijiworld and print support was by Glossy Print Advertising and CMS Digital World. Winners, runner-up teams, each player of all winner and runner-up teams and outstanding players were awarded with trophies and cash prizes.
The results of SMMC Sports 2020 are as follows:
Cricket:
Winner: Magic XI, Dubai
1st Runner-up: Rising Star
2nd Runner-up: Abu Dhabi Christian Boys
Best Bowler: Isuru Umesh, Magic XI
Best Batsman: Ashok Mathias, Magic XI
Man of the Match: Ashok Mathias, Magic XI
Player of the Tournament: Ashok Mathias, Magic XI
Volley ball (Men):
Winner: Karaval Milan, Dubai
Runner-up: Globelink West Star Shipping-Team B
Best Setter: Kevin Suares, Karaval Milan, Dubai
Best Attacker: Sailesh D’Souza, Karaval Milan, Dubai
Best All-rounder: Miltan Pritesh Rego, Globelink West Star Shipping- Team B