As part of the efforts to promote peace and goodwill through cricket, hundreds of Rotarians from over 134 clubs under the Rotary District 3211 spread out over the revenue districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam arrived at the Fatima Mata National College grounds here on Sunday morning to cheer their respective teams playing in the one-day Rotary Involved Cricket Entertainment (RICE) matches.
Each team wore jerseys sporting different colours and the matches were played in a professional manner umpired by officials from the Kerala Cricket Association. The programme was inaugurated by the Rotary District Governor John Daniel. The cricketers comprised youngsters in their twenties to even those in their mid-50s.
In spite of the competing spirit, an aura of sportsmanship was the hallmark of the event, Mr. John said.
Each team was christened with catchy names like Kabaali, Star Strikers, Super Kings, Aleppy Tigers, Rising Stars, Travancore Tigers, Smash and Metro Fire.
The matches began with a line-up of the teams early in the morning with the district governor being formally introduced to each team.
Rice chairman Shaji Viswanath said that 16 teams from 32 zones under the Rotary district competed in the matches.
Star Strikers from Thiruvananthapuram emerged the winners to bag a cash prize of Rs. 20,000. The runner-up team is Rising Stars of Kollam district and team won a cash prize of Rs. 15,000.
Mr. Shaji said that the event also provided the Rotarians a great opportunity to encourage the younger generation into the Rotary movement which is engaged in promoting fellowship and service to work towards making the world a more beautiful place to live in for our future generations of people.
