NATS Premier League (NPL) - a cricket tournament was inaugurated in Los Angeles on a grand scale. NATS kicked off the sports events while gearing up for its biannual convention in Los Angeles. In the next two months, NPL T-10 is going to be conducted in several cities across USA and the grand finals will be conducted in Los Angeles during the NATS convention on July 2nd – 4th in Los Angeles. This is first time any Indian Organization has conducted a cricket tournament of this magnitude. Famous cricketer Shri Rajinder Singh Ghaiinaugurated the cricket tournament. He was received by enthusiastic cricket lovers with a big cheer. He met with all teams and shared his experiences in international and first class cricket tournaments. Heshared some techniques and insights of the game and wished them all good luck. He praised the charitable work NATS is doing to the community and extended his support to all future activities NATS may take up. Dr.Venkat Alapati thanked him for taking time and inspiring the players.
Over 30 teams participated in this tournament this weekend. Due to this overwhelming response, the tournament was conducted in two different locations – BuenaPark and Simi Valley in greater Los Angeles area. More than 350 players participated in the tournament. The tournament brought lot of enthusiasm and energy in Telugu community. The environment on the grounds reminded people of cricket tournaments they have attended in India. Jaipal Reddy, Kishore Garikapati, Praveen Alla, Bayyapa Reddy, Madhu Bodapati, Kumar Talinki, SitaramPamireddy, Guru Konka, Suresh Akunnuru made all appropriate arrangements including ground preparations, food etc. Sys IntelliInchas sponsored the event and Bollywood Brunch Box (B3) provided Lunch.
Beautiful California weather enabled the tournament to start by 8:30AM. All teams were divided into groups and preliminary rounds were held on Saturday. Winners from groups have played Quarters, Semis and Finals on Sunday. The fast paced T-10 tournament created a feast for cricket lovers. There were several 4s and 6s in each game and the crowd, especially kids, was cheering every time there was a six.
In more than 10 games, teams were able to knock out allbatsmen and a hat trick was achieved by Simi Royals team. VCC1 team was able to go to semifinals with one run difference in a nail biting game with Whillies. Whillies team had to make 9 runs in last 6 balls.They hit a six and had to make 3 runs in 2 balls and VCC1 controlled the batsmen with good bowling and has ultimately prevailed.
In Buena Park location, players enthusiastically participated in Prelims and Final rounds for two days. Telugu Warriors and Cerritos Thunder came to the finals. After breathtaking final match, Telugu Warriors won the location cup. The highest score in tournament was 106 in 10 overs by California Crickets team.
In Simi Valley location, VCC1, California Cricketers, Telugu Warriors and Titans came to semifinals by winning two games in their groups. The games were so intense that spectators did not even move from their chairs. First semifinals was between VCC1 and California Cricketers and California Cricketers won the game. Shobhan received Man of the Match award. Suresh Akunuru and Kumar Talinki from VCC1 congratulated their opponent and wished them luck for Finals.
Second Semifinals was between Telugu Warriors Vs Titans a match that has captivated all cricket lovers. Both teams were very young, energetic and fast paced players and had several sixes made in this game. How these teams have composed during some tense moments caught everyone’s attention and appreciated them for their sportsmanship. Titans won the game and went to finals. Tippu received Man of the Match award. Bala Gangadhar from Telugu Warriors congratulated Titans and wished them luck in the Finals while cherishing his team’s performance.
The Finals between, California Cricketers and Titans, was held in Simi Valley. Captains Sunil and Joseph talked before the game and said they were proud to have reached regional finals.In the nail biting finals, California Cricketers prevailed. Sethu received Man of the Match award and Man of the Series – presented by Sunil Pathakamuri - was awarded to Tippu from Titans for his exceptional performance. Winning trophy is presented to California Cricketers by Kishore Garikapati and Madhu Bodapati. Umpiring was crucial in these tournaments and all team captains praised the precision and judgment shown by Umpires Kishore Raju, SitaramPamireddy, Praveen Alla, Madhu Bodapati, DilipSurapaneni, Ravi Allam, Sridhar Garige, Vasu Reddy, SairamBandarupalli, Guru Konka, Chandra Mohan, Kondala, Kishore Garikapati, Raju Nune, PurnaPalla, and SaradhiGoli.
Dr. Ravi Alapati, Chairman NATS Convention (2015) attended the event and presented Man of match awards to players. He emphasized importance of being physically active and encouraged everyone to do some type of physical activity. He explained charitable activities NATS has been doing over last few years and requested the community to be part of these greater causes. He told the crowd to utilize the convention platform to build the confidence and demonstrate talent in the next generation kids. He thanked all volunteers who worked hard for conducting this event in a big scale.
Commenting on the tournament, Sobhan from California Cricketers said they never saw such an organized tournament in LA before and appreciated Organizers for thinking about players and providing all required amenities for these two long days. ChanduNangineni, Hari Konka, Madhu Bodapati, Kishore Garikapti, Prasad Papudesi, UdayBontu, Srinivas Sure, SuneelPathakamuru, and Guru Konka talked about NATS charitable activities and NATS Help line 888-4-TELUGU. They emphasized to spread the word about help line which is dedicated to any Telugu families or citizens who are in distress. They have also talked about Accidental and death support by NATS to families facing thisunfortunate situation in their lives.
Vamsimohan, Ram Yalamanchili, UdayBonthu, Manohar MaddineniArvind Pola, Vijay Potluri, Sunil Pathakamuri, Prudhvi, SarathPopuri, Gouri SankarRavala, Murthy Darbala,BharathAkunapuram, SaradhiGoli,TilakKalvakona, Ramakrishna Jillelamudi, Murali, RajendraGujjula, Suren Mari, Praveen Nayani Sridhar Bandlamudi, Ramakrishna Penumarti, Sumanth, Naidu Potu, AtchaiahChowdary, Nagarjuna Kaka, Sriram Valluri, Venkat Kothamasu, Vishnu Kalavakuru, NareshVanam and NarendraKomaragiri made all arrangements at the grounds and helped tournament go smooth without any hiccups. NATS has also received support from Telugu Association of Southern California (TASC) in conducting this event.
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