Sugandhraj Bekal is new president of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah

Kuwait: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the whole world into a difficult situation and the situation of Indians in Kuwait is not any different. Many people have lost their jobs, have no salary, are deprived of food and are not able to pay rent. The appalling conditions of labourers, domestic workers, taxi drivers and low waged earners don’t seem to end in Kuwait. 

At this trying situation when many people were even afraid of leaving their houses because of coronavirus, Suresh S. Rao Neramballi, volunteer of the Food Kit Distribution at the ICSG (Indian Community Support Group) has helped many tremendously. He was ready to go around delivering food kits at any time possible by his car. However, after Kuwait imposed a full curfew from 11th May 2020, no one could take out their vehicles unless they had a curfew pass. 

This did not stop Mr. Suresh Neramballi, who then borrowed a bicycle from a friend and ended up going around in the cycle delivering the food kits in curfew break time (4:30pm to 6:30pm) to all those who registered in the ICSG website. This selfless service surely commands appreciation and applause. Mr. Suresh Neramballi has been a light for many families and bachelors in Kuwait and will surely garner the blessings of them who have been able to eat at this time.

He was also the one who could deliver the food kits to many Indian Muslim maids, bachelors, laborers and families previous day and right on the day of EID, as they were not able to go shopping for their groceries for EID, due to the curfew. They blessed him in EID dua. 

Mr. Suresh Neramballi hails from Mangaluru, India and is an Engineer in the Oil sector company in Kuwait. He has been dedicated to social service, achieved 'Aryabhata International Award' for his Kannada Service and Social service, served in many Associations and Distributor of Kannada and Tulu Movies in Kuwait. He wholeheartedly thanks the people and government of Kuwait for his bread and butter.

In a humanitarian gesture to help fellow citizens in distress, the first in the series of chartered 
flights arranged by Thumbay Group, UAE and the Bearys Cultural Forum (BCF) Trust, 
Mangalore to repatriate stranded Kannadigas in the UAE took off from Ras Al Khaimah 
International Airport in the wee hours of 21st July 2020. The flight was fully occupied, with 186 passengers, all of them desperate to fly back to India for various reasons.

The initiative was conceived and implemented under the leadership of Dr. Thumbay Moideen - Founder President of Thumbay Group & Founder Patron of BCF and Dr. B K Yusuf, the 
President of BCF. The flight was organized on a purely charitable basis, with all necessary 
steps and precautions in place to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers. Thumbay Group assigned its fleet of buses to transport the passengers free of charge from their residences in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman to the airport. The organizers also provided free meals and refreshments to the passengers, in addition to PPE kits and face-shields distributed free of 
charges.

The passengers on the first flight included many elderly individuals, people with serious 
illnesses like heart-related health issues and diabetes, pregnant ladies and little children as well as people who had lost their jobs and those with expired visas. Dr. B K Yusuf – BCF President, Dr. Kaup Mohammed - BCF General Secretary, other office bearers of BCF, as well as Thumbay Group’s representatives Mr. Farhad C – Director of the Hospitality Division of 
Thumbay Group and Engr. Farwaz P. C. – COO of the Construction Division were present at 
the airport to see off the first group of passengers.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Thumbay Moideen said, “This joint initiative of Thumbay 
Group and BCF is to support our fellow Kannadigas desperate to fly back home. We are happy that we have been able to reach out to many of them, to help them fly home to their families. We thank the Governments of the UAE and India, and the Indian Consulate, Dubai, for their support in making this happen. In the coming days, many more stranded Kannadigas would be repatriated under this joint initiative.”
Dr. B K Yusuf thanked Dr. Thumbay Moideen and the office-bearers and members of BCF for 
their efforts to make the initiative a success.

“We are proud that this initiative has brought relief to many Kannadigas and their families today. BCF is grateful to Thumbay Group for its support and partnership for all our humanitarian programs for the support of the needy.”

Dr. Kaup Mohammed said that it was a matter of pride that the much-awaited Thumbay-BCF 
repatriation flight had been carried out successfully. “Measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the flight and its passengers throughout the journey,” he said. He also thanked all the social organizations including Bhatkal Jamath, BCCI, BWF, KCF, DKSC, Kodagu Kannadigas, 
Kannadiga Help Line, Dubai Konkans and KSS, for their support. He specially thanked Mr. 
Syed Hassan Razeen, the owner of ARISTOCRAT Travels for his support in the ticketing, 
boarding and related processes. On behalf of Milano Optics Group and Maxcare, free gift 
hampers were distributed to selected passengers.

The passengers were received at Mangalore airport under the leadership of Mr. Mumtaz Ali - patron of BCF and other distinguished personalities of Mangalore including Mr. Moidin Bava - former MLA, Mr U. T. Ifthikhar, Mr. S. M. R Rashid - President of BCCI central committee and many others. The passengers were transferred to the hotels where they had registered for the mandatory quarantine.

The second flight under this joint initiative is scheduled to take-off from Ras Al Khaimah airport to Mangalore on 24th July 2020. A few more similar repatriation flights are to soon follow, in the coming weeks.

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