Chicago hosts Inter-Church Cricket Tournament

CHICAGO: With passion for the game of cricket growing among second generation Indian youth, Chicago’s church community organized the first-ever Inter-Church Cricket Tournament to provide their youth the opportunity to showcase their talent on the cricket field.

The tournament was held at the Dee Park in Desplaines, a northwest suburb of Chicago, on Saturday August 31 drawing families, youth and children in large numbers to cheer their favorite teams.

The tournament had seven teams represented by various Telugu Churches to play in the knock-out format tournament which included Antioch Telugu Baptist Church [ATBC], Bethesda Telugu Church [BTC], Bible Mission Church [BMC], Chicago Bible Fellowship [CBF], CSI-Wesley Church [CSI-W], India Baptist Telugu Church [ITBC], Wesley Church of South India [WCSI].

Each team played a competitive game of cricket to secure the Trophy. At the draw of the night, the two final teams Chicago Bible Fellowship [CBF] and Bible Mission Church [BMC] clashed in a tenacious fight each excelling in batting, bowling and fielding. However, CBF took an edge and emerged victorious.

The night took a festive turn under the flood lights when the trophies and cash-prizes were given away amid loud cheers and applause.

Runners Up Trophy was presented by Mrs Subhadra John Vipparthi. ‘Man of Series’ award was presented to Raju Pasumarthi and Man of the Match awards went to Nani of CSI team, Ramesh of BMC team, Ravi of CBF team, Praveen of BMC team, Anil of ABTC team and Vijay of CBF team.

Dr Heyer Paul Devarapalli was one of the major sponsors who gave away a grand cash prize to CBF. Dr & Mrs Nandan Thogaru presented the attractively tall Rolling Trophy to the winning team. Captain Emmanuel Neela of CBF decided to donate the cash-prize to widows and orphans. Rev. Peter Pereira stirred up the youth with his brief yet inspiring summation urging youth to play competitively while exemplifying the tenets of faith.

Keerthi Ravoori