By Syed Khalid Mahmood
The Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament has completed its silver jubilee with the media launch of its new edition held at the Gymkhana’s Banquet Hall on August 9.
With the cricket ground unfit to hold the traditional opening ceremony, immediately after the media brief, due to the heavy downpour for the past few weeks, the organizers had to arrange for a special formal inauguration at the Banquet Hall in which the President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, and the representative of the sponsors, Zain Malik, did the honours.
The familiar figure of Mian Azmat Hussain, a Vice President of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) and an ex-Treasurer of the Karachi Gymkhana, was the master of the ceremony and he handled the proceedings in his typically elegant manner.
The Chairman of the Tournament Committee and the Convenor Sports, Hanif Habib, delivered a rather comprehensive welcome address in which he touched upon the highlights of the past 25 years of the tournament.
In what probably was his maiden appearance before the media after having taken over the reigns of the Karachi Gymkhana sports earlier this year, he thanked his committee members besides acknowledging the sponsors.
The President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, did not drag as his speech, like that of Hanif Habib, had already been printed in the brochure having been circulated to the members of the press before the start of the briefing.
He complimented the media for having covered the cricket tournaments in the past while urging them to pay special attention to the upcoming Silver Jubilee events.
“Karachi Gymkhana is one of the most elite and exclusive sports clubs of Pakistan which takes pride in providing wide variety of sporting activities. We have been extremely fortunate over the years to have complete support and good wishes of the electronic and print media,” he recognized.
He announced the enhancement of prizemoney of the tournament, with the winners to take home a very healthy purse of Rs 350,000 and the runners-up to pocket a sum of Rs 175,000. The losing semifinalists will be getting Rs 30,000 each and there would be a lot of individual cash awards too.
In his brief speech chief guest Zain Malik, Executive Director, Bahria Town (Pvt) Ltd and Chief Executive, Galaxy Construction (Pvt) Ltd, expressed his delight to have been selected as the sponsors of the tournament.
The vote of thanks was presented by Karachi Gymkhana’s cricket captain, Masroor Mirza Ahmed, while the Gymkhana’s Cricket Secretary, Khurram Sadiq Mannoo, attended the ceremony despite being not in the best of health.
The draws of the 25th KG Ramazan Festival for Bahria Town Trophy had been taken out by the officials of the Tournament Committee in the presence of the representatives of the participating teams a few days earlier.
Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Fact Date Engineering, Ideal Cricket and Advanced Telecom have been placed in Group A, Tapal Cricket Club, Sindh Police, A O Cricket Club and Pak Korangi constitute Group B, Medicam Group, Mohammad Hussain Cricket Club, Pak Gymkhana and UBL Academy feature in Group C and Omar Cricket Club, Vital Five, Malir Gymkhana and hosts Karachi Gymkhana have been drawn in Group D.
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With the cricket ground unfit to hold the traditional opening ceremony, immediately after the media brief, due to the heavy downpour for the past few weeks, the organizers had to arrange for a special formal inauguration at the Banquet Hall in which the President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, and the representative of the sponsors, Zain Malik, did the honours.
The familiar figure of Mian Azmat Hussain, a Vice President of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) and an ex-Treasurer of the Karachi Gymkhana, was the master of the ceremony and he handled the proceedings in his typically elegant manner.
The Chairman of the Tournament Committee and the Convenor Sports, Hanif Habib, delivered a rather comprehensive welcome address in which he touched upon the highlights of the past 25 years of the tournament.
In what probably was his maiden appearance before the media after having taken over the reigns of the Karachi Gymkhana sports earlier this year, he thanked his committee members besides acknowledging the sponsors.
The President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, did not drag as his speech, like that of Hanif Habib, had already been printed in the brochure having been circulated to the members of the press before the start of the briefing.
He complimented the media for having covered the cricket tournaments in the past while urging them to pay special attention to the upcoming Silver Jubilee events.
“Karachi Gymkhana is one of the most elite and exclusive sports clubs of Pakistan which takes pride in providing wide variety of sporting activities. We have been extremely fortunate over the years to have complete support and good wishes of the electronic and print media,” he recognized.
He announced the enhancement of prizemoney of the tournament, with the winners to take home a very healthy purse of Rs 350,000 and the runners-up to pocket a sum of Rs 175,000. The losing semifinalists will be getting Rs 30,000 each and there would be a lot of individual cash awards too.
In his brief speech chief guest Zain Malik, Executive Director, Bahria Town (Pvt) Ltd and Chief Executive, Galaxy Construction (Pvt) Ltd, expressed his delight to have been selected as the sponsors of the tournament.
The vote of thanks was presented by Karachi Gymkhana’s cricket captain, Masroor Mirza Ahmed, while the Gymkhana’s Cricket Secretary, Khurram Sadiq Mannoo, attended the ceremony despite being not in the best of health.
The draws of the 25th KG Ramazan Festival for Bahria Town Trophy had been taken out by the officials of the Tournament Committee in the presence of the representatives of the participating teams a few days earlier.
Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Fact Date Engineering, Ideal Cricket and Advanced Telecom have been placed in Group A, Tapal Cricket Club, Sindh Police, A O Cricket Club and Pak Korangi constitute Group B, Medicam Group, Mohammad Hussain Cricket Club, Pak Gymkhana and UBL Academy feature in Group C and Omar Cricket Club, Vital Five, Malir Gymkhana and hosts Karachi Gymkhana have been drawn in Group D.
