‘Kannada Koota’ reopens Kannada school in Dubai

Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) Chaiman Dr Sam Pitroda held video conference with senior IOC office bearers across Middle Eastern countries on 14th April 2020 to review the impact of COVID-19 pandemic among Indians residing in the region. Almost all speakers appreciated the efforts initiated and  implemented by  respective governments to contain spread of the deadly virus as well as measures taken towards welfare of the people affected by the lockdown. 

IOC Presidents, Mohammed Mansour - Bahrain, Abdullah Manjeri - Saudi Arabia, Dr J Ratan kunar - Oman and Girish kumar - Qatar, highlighted the quality treatment of patients and finacial aid provided by governments and other authorities. Bahrain IOC president Mansour , also  apprised about the 'Food for Needy' drive in Association with KHK Heroes foundation, initiated by HH Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa and quality treatments as well as financial aid to local and expat residents.

Anura Mathai, IOC  Global Event Coordinator, spoke about certain problems of Indians in the UAE. IOC Middle East Convener, Mansoor Palloor, emphasised and requested IOC Chairman to urge Indian government to arrange immediate repatriation of indians stranded in Gulf countries. AICC Secretary, Himanshu Vyas, IOC Secretary Dr Arathi Krishna, Dr Arshi Malik (Abha), Mohiuddin Sirajudeen (Jeddah), Advocate Joseph Palathara (Dammam) Prasad Kodru, Jayati Maitra Ziyad Ahmed (Qatar) and Khursheed Alam (Gen Secretary- Bahrain) also apprised the participants about various issues relevant to the pandemic and suggested further initiatives to be undertaken. 

Dr Sam Pitroda briefed about sustained and consolidated efforts by all IOC members  during this unprecedented situation facing the world and assured that he would convey IOC  concerns to the government and try his best to ensure all possible help is made available to all needy Indians.

Global Toastmasters Club conducted Youth Leadership Program (GTC YLP– 2020), which  culminated with an extraordinary show at the Grand Finale in Puli Restaurant, Jubail, Saudi Arabia on Friday, January 31, 2020.

Toastmaster Mohammed Abul Khasim, who hails from Karnataka, Gulbarga was the Chief Coordinator for this Youth leadership program YLP, In this 10 weeks intensively focused program, the young future Leaders in the age group 13 to 15 were given quality coaching on Public Speaking, Listening, Writing, Evaluating and Life Skills, under the able guidance of Chief Coordinator.

The keynote speaker at the event was well-known veteran distinguish Toastmaster Dr R J George who motivated everyone to speak the language of love, removing all boundaries and barriers and invest on spending quality time together.

The performances of Youth Leaders were extraordinary and flawless and it was witness by top prominent figures of Jubail toastmaster fraternity likes of DTM Jamil Akhter,TM Nasiruddin Ansari, DTM Oomen Thomas, MTM Sair Oomen, DTM Hareesh, TM Amitab Serna, DTM Kotesh, MTM Shanti Rekha, DTM Suresh Kumar, TM Imtiyaz Khan, TM Asif Ali khan, MTM Farha Naved,TM Naved Hussain, Madam Sheeba, Dr Saleem Khan,TM Ashik Nazeer and TM Suhail Rais Khan. GTC YLP team thanks the Guest of Honor Mr. Abdul Majeed the Managing Director of Universal Inspection Company for sparing the valuable time as one of the sponsor of the event.

The Chief Guest at the Finale was Toastmasters District 79 Club Growth Director DTM Rami Jawad, laud the efforts of GTC for community service and urged all students to take full advantage of such chances as they present life changing opportunities, Division Direct ‘L” DTM Sadagopan address the audience and District PQD DTM Madhusha Grace the occasion. 

During the span of 10 weeks, more than 40 senior member of Jubail Toastmasters fraternity contributed to the success of this program as one to one mentors, Workshop Presenters and Assistant Coordinators. DTM Uzma Siddiqui, DTM Aziz Ahmed Siddiqui, DTM Safare Mohammed, DTM N V Arasu and DTM Jeyasankar and DTM Asif Ali Siddiqui, led the team of Toastmasters as overall Program Advisors, MTM Samina Mazher was chief judge for the event.

The grand finale saw four absorbing contests in Table Topics, Evaluation Speech, International Speech and Debate conducted by YL Ayesha Safare, YL Sai Pranav, YL Mohammed Saad and YL Fawaz Kannan respectively and YL Jaweriya conducted the banner parade.
Maliaka Maryam won the first prize in International Speech, while the second and third were earned by Mohammed Saad and Mohammed Umair. The Table topic contest was won by Ahmed Khan, where Jayveer Prajapati and Fawaz Kannan stood second and third respectively.

Sreena Nanda Kumar won evaluation Speech Contest, while Mohammed Sufyan and Sai Pranav stood second and third respectively. In Debate contest the team speaking against the topic represented by Hasib Javid, Muzaffer Shaik and Nabil Bin Tasnim stood first and runner team was represented by Sarah Nasir, Fathima Badruddin and Shanum Rabia . Hasib Javid was declared the best debate speaker.

The first term President Sarah Nasir and second term President Mohammed Ahmed Khan started the program with their presidential addresses after the Surah recitation by Nabil BinTasnim. YL Jumana Jaffer & YL Arman Raiq Siraj hosted the finale as Master of ceremonies. Immedate past Youth leaders and assistance Coordinators and workshop presenters Jaweriya Mariyam and Ayesha Safare conducted the award ceremony, while DTM Safare Mohammed handled contest operations.

Global Toastmasters President DTM Khalid Siddiqui and YLP Chief Coordinator TM Mohammed Abul Khasim thanked all Youth Leaders, Parents Sponsors and Toastmasters for their contribution in making the program successful. 

Past President of Global TMC, past Area63 Governor and first ever Joint Division E & L conference chairman Mangalorean DTM Shameer Ahmed Kudroli congratulated the Chief Coordinator Mohammed Abul Khasim for the effort and dedication to make the event a grand success and his journey to accomplish the DTM title soon.

Riyadh: Cricket Lovers are all geared up for the newly launched franchise based tournament - Kingdom Premier League (KPL) 2020 under the banner of Mangaluru Cricket Association (MCA) Riyadh.

SAQCO –SAAD AL QAHTANI CONTRACTING is the Mega Sponsor for the event and PARAMOUNT is the CO Sponsor.

The 6-team tournament is being played at MCA Grounds on Exit 18 in Riyadh beginning from 14 Feb and shall end on 20 March.

The Opening ceremony took place on AL-Mas Restaurant in Riyadh. The trophy launching as well as Jersey launching took place at the same event. Guests from various companies including SAQCO were present.

All teams will play at least one league Match against every other team. Top 4 teams in the table will qualify to play for the Qualifier 1 and Eliminator. The Winner of Qualifier 1 will be heading towards the final and the 2nd finalist will be the winner Qualifier 2 (Played between loser of Qualifier 1 and Winner of Eliminator). The Finals will be played on 20th March.

Below 6 Team names with their franchise owners and respective icon players.

BANCAA WARRIORS – RANJITH (TEAM WARRIORS RIYADH) – RAJESH AND SHAFI

YAQOOB FIGHTERS – SHAHID & YAQOOB (YAQOOB CC) – SAMEER KARNAD AND MOHSIN

GROUND STAR PHOENIX – RIZWAN & SIDDIK – AYAZ & SALEEM SHIRUR

PARAMOUNT HEROES – NASIR GM – SARFARAZ AK & MUSTAFA HASAN

AL-AMAL AFRAH PANTHERS – SHAHIM & AHNAF – DAWOOD KODI & ANIS

NAJD CHALLENGERS – AFROZ NAKWA – SHADAB KARNAD & SULTHAN

Each Team gets to pick 2 icon players of their choice on a mutual understanding whereas the remaining 13 players for each squad to be picked randomly based on their rankings and ratings in bidding style from 3 categories – A, B & C. The Franchise Ownership amount stands at Sr 2,000 for Each Team. The Winner of the Tournament gets a Cash Reward of Sr 5,000. The Runner Up Gets a Cash Reward of 3,000. Many Attractive Individual prizes will be handed over at the end of the event such as below

Winners squad 16 players - Gifts

Highest Run Getter – Orange Cap – Special Gift

Highest Wicket Taker – Purple Cap – Special Gift

Player of the Series – Special Gift

Hat-trick Wicket taker – Special Gift

KPL Kamal Catch – Special Gift

Best Wicket Keeper – Special Gift

Best over in KPL – Special Gift

Fastest 50 in KPL – Special Gift

Fair Play Award – Special Gift

Performer of the Week (Every Week) – Special Gift

Century – Special Gift

Maiden Over – Special Gift