By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 5 Jan: UPES continued its legacy of paying homage to the brave martyrs of the Indian Armed Forces from Uttarakhand for their supreme sacrifice & honoring their family members by way of organizing an annual ‘T-20 Shaheed Memorial Cricket Tournament’ in their memory this year too. The 5th Tournament in this series was organized in the memory of Vir Chakra (Posthumous) Awardee Naik Brij Mohan Singh from 9 Para (SF) – a resident of Village Tunwala in Dehradunwho laid down his life at a young age of 29 while fighting the enemy at ‘Mashkoh Sub Sector at Kargil, Jammu & Kashmir’ on 1st July, 1999.
The two-week tournament at UPES grounds concluded today with the team from Uttarakhand Pey Jal Nigam, Dehradun comprehensively beating the Income Tax, Dehradun team in the final. Batting first, the winners scored 164 runs in 20 overs losing 07 wickets and later restricted their opponents at 148 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. Mr. Ayush from Uttarakhand Pey Jal Nigam team was adjudged the Man of the Match for taking 03 wickets accompanied by an unbeaten 68 runs in the match.
Amit Ghai of South Doon Cricket Academy sponsored a Medal for Man of the Match awards for the entire tournament.
In the Award Presentation Ceremony held in the presence the martyr’s family, Dr. Deependra Jha – Vice Chancellor, UPES paid floral & personal homage to the martyr. “Shaheed Naik Brij Mohan Singh lived to serve his country & died to preserve its honor. For me the Soldiers never die, they only become immortal with their supreme sacrifice. We are proud of our armed forces personnel who sacrifice their today to ensure our tomorrow” Dr. Jha shared his emotions on the brave-hearts of the Indian Armed Forces.
The Vice Chancellor and Subhrangshu Neogi, COO – Business Development, UPES later presented a cheque of Rs 1,51,000/- to the martyr’s mother Amravati. Dr. Jha also presented a cheque of Rs. 25,000/- to Sonali – wife of a UPES grounds staff Late Manoj Kumar who had passed away in 2018.
Arun Dhand, Sr. Director – Public Affairs, UPES presented a Shawl to the martyr’s mother and awarded the Fair Play Trophy to the team from the Indian Army. Brig. S.S. Dhillon, Sr. Director – Administration presented the ‘Participation Trophies’ to the representatives of all the participating teams.
Thanking all members of the teams that participated in the tournament for contributing to the noble cause Dr. Jha presented the trophies to the Winners of the Tournament while Neogi awarded the Runners-up Team. Applauding the grounds-men of UPES Cricket Field for their excellent efforts in conducting the fortnight-long tournament successfully, Dr. Vickram Sahai – Associate Director DSDS presented the ground staff with cash prizes.
Sharing the tournament details Arun Dhand informed that 13 Teams participated in the tournament which was conducted by neutral umpires Amit Singh, Shubham Kumar & Ganesh of the Uttarakhand Cricket Association to ensure free & fair umpiring throughout the tournament. “Thirteen (13) Teams from Indian Army; ONGC; UPCL; Civil Secretariat; Education Department’; ‘Irrigation Department; Uttarakhand Pay Jal Nigam; Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan; Agriculture; Income Tax; MDDA’; ‘GST Department and the hosts UPES participated in the tournament this year. We are planning to include the martyrs from beyond the Dehradun limits from the next year onwards”, Dhand shared.
Hosting the Presentation Ceremony Manish Madaan, Deputy Director – Career Services, UPES shared the statistics of the 23 matches played during the course of the tournament. “6044 runs were scored in the tournament that included 232 sixes and 672 boundaries and a total of 294 wickets fell in this process”, he informed.
The Man of the Tournament award was claimed by Vishal Sharma from the Income Tax, Dehradun Team while the Best Batsmen of the Tournament went to Amit Ghai and the Best Bowler of the Tournament was won by Tikrajboth from Civil Secretariat Team.
The UPES Organizing Team of this tournament included Manish Madaan, Manish Yagnik, Lokender Dutt Sharma, Anant Prakash Mishra & Amar Saxena. Exhibiting a special gesture, Mohd Islam from the Uttarakhand Pay Jal Nigam Team presented a personal cheque of Rs 10,000/- to the martyr’s mother – repeating his goodwill gesture of 2018.