Indian expatriates win volleyball tournament

The second edition of Inter-Community Beach Volleyball was comprehensively won by the Indian expatriates as they won first three positions.The team of VOLIQ-A was crowned as the champions of the Apparel Challengers Cup 2019. VOLIQ-B remained runners up in the tournament where the third position was grabbed by Doha Spikers, another team comprising of players from Indian community.Indian Sports Centre (ISC), in collaboration with Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA), recently organised 2nd Inter-Community Beach Volleyball Tournament at Al Gharafa Beach Volleyball Stadium. The two-day long tournament was more like a festival as different expatriate communities attended the event in large numbers. The tournament was opened with a grand inaugural ceremony. The opening ceremony featured a march past by the members of the participating team, which was followed by a cultural performance by the Indian community. As many as 20 teams from nine countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Ghambia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Senegal participated in the tournament. The league matches were played by various community teams in six pools, which was followed by knock-out matches. The final was played between VOLIQ-A and VOLIQ-B, both teams of the Indian community. The players of the winning teams, include Shereej V K, Mohammed, Abbas, Ashker, Ansari, Fawas and Moosa.The prize distribution ceremony was conducted in presence of Sunny Saxena, Training Manager of Apparel Group, the title sponsor of the event. The Pakistani Team from The Next Generation School was presented with a Special Appreciation Award for being the youngest participating team of the tournament. Hussain Imam Ali, QVA Technical Director Captain, was the chief guest at the event. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “We are ready to work with ISC in future. We encourage more and more interactions among different communities through sporting events. We would like to have full support from the expatriate communities for the Amir Cup Volleyball final that will be held at 9:30pm on May 17 at QVA stadium.”Nilangshu Dey, ISC President, said, “We are happy to have successfully completed the second beach volleyball tournament. The response has been overwhelming. There were crowds in large numbers. The enthusiasm among the contesting players was very high.“The second edition of the tournament has further cemented the ties between QVA and ISC. We are committed to extend our full support to QVA in the upcoming Amir Cup. I really appreciate the idea by the QVA to organise a big volleyball tournament for expatriate communities. ISC is ready to work with QVA to make the planned tournament a success. The beach volleyball tournament has become an yearly phenomenon and we will continue organising the sport event for the communities,” he added.Ashik Ahmed, Secretary Volleyball and Basketball with ISC, proposed a vote of thanks. He said, “ISC has shown remarkable achievements in organising Inter-school tournaments in table tennis, swimming, yoga and skipping rope among all the 15 Indian schools. We have also organised inter-organisations tournaments in volleyball, table tennis and cricket. Inter-companies tournaments in table tennis, and volleyball are an other accomplishment of ISC. We are also focusing on establishing proper coaching camps for volleyball coaching for school students through the support of QVA.”Talking to Community, winning captain Shereej V K said, “I am very happy to be captain of the winning team. We faced a tough challenge from the other Indian team in the final. The teams from Sri Lanka and Pakistan also played well but the real challenge came from the Indian teams.”He said, “The main reason for our success is that we have continuously been practising. I enjoy playing beach volley ball. If you have flexible body and good movements, you can become a better player. I really appreciate the kind of encouragement that sportspersons gets in Qatar. I have been in Qatar for four years.”