Jubail:  Indian Social Forum (ISF) between Feb 20-22, organised a knockout cricket tournament ‘Social Forum Cup – 2019’ at Al-Falah Ground of Al Jubail. The event brought together hundreds of people from all communities and nationalities to enjoy the game of cricket in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

15 leading cricket club teams of the eastern province participated in the tournament and played knock out games on Feb 20, Wednesday. The quarterfinals, semi finals and final match of the tournament was played on Friday 22 February.

Arabian Clouds and Eastern Blue played the final match and Arabian clouds eventually defeated the latter to lift the champion’s trophy in a nail biting final match.

In the final match, Sahil of Arabian Clouds was awarded Man of the Match, while he also secured Best Batsman and Best Wicketkeeper of the tournament award. Sahil’s teammate Mahesh was awarded best bowler of the tournament while Kashif of Eastern Blue won the player of the tournament award.

Super Sports Jubail team was awarded the people’s favorite team award, after it secured the most votes on an online voting campaign.

In the buildup to the final match of the tournament, India Fraternity Forum President, Imthiyaz Surathkal and Abdul Razak, CEO of KMT Co released helium balloons in the sky and wished players from both the teams luck for the final match.

The stage for the closing ceremony was named after Emirates Abdul kadar, a social worker in Saudi Arabia for over 3 decades who died in accident recently near Dammam.

Leading Entrepreneurs Mr. Abdul Razak CEO of KMT Contracting Co and Mushtaq Ahmed CEO of Fateh Al Jubail trading were felicitated with Indian Social Forum ‘Community Service Excellence Award’ for their outstanding Community service back home in India. They were felicitated by Meera Ahmed Gulbarga (Senior Consultant Engineer at Woods Group/ Central Committee Member India Fraternity Forum), Imthiyaz Surtkal (President India Fraternity Forum Eastern Province) respectively.

During the presentation ceremony, Saudi & Indian National anthem were played and silent prayer was offered in remembrance of CRPF PULWAMA martyrs. Sponsors and Guests were presented with the momento by the ISF Jubail Block executive council members. The ceremony was presided by Shareef Jokatte Indian Social Forum Karnataka Eastern province.

Shareef Jokatte, President of ISF Karnataka State Eastern Province, Imthiyaz Surathkal President of India Fraternity Forum Easter Province, Sheikabba Karnire Director of Expertise Contracting CO, Abdul Razak CEO of KMT Contracting Co, Mushtaq Ahmed CEO of Fateh Al- Jubail Trading, Ataulla Uchila president of IFF Karnataka EP, Waseem Rabbani President of Indian Social Forum EP, Salahuddin Mysore General Manager at Renaul Cars Co & Gen Secratery of ISF K’taka EP, Mohammad Ashraf Puttur General  secretary of ISF EP, Nazarul Islam Chaudhary Procurement Manager Yamama Co and President of IFF Delhi Zone, Ashqaf CEO of Plant Solutions, Tajammul Hussain Director at RAIKAM Operations, Abdul Azeez from Expertise Contracting Co, Azhar from Arabian Cloud, Saleem Udupi ISF Jubail - Udupi Block Exe Council Member, Nazeer Thumbay President of ISF Jubail Mangalore Block, Shameer Muloor President of Jubail Udupi Block, Williums Worki Manager from Shifa Hospital Jubail, Meeraj Ahmed Gulbarga member of IFF Central Committee EP, Mohammad Saeed Fleet Manager Renault Cars Co were present at the stage.

Mohammad Shameer Muloor (President Indian Social Forum Udupi Jubail Block) was the Tournament Coordinator, Mohammad Firoz hosted the presentation ceremony and Saleem Udupi (Member of Indian Social Forum Udupi Jubail Block executive council member) hosted the prize distribution ceremony.

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London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.

A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."

Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.

“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”

Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.

“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”

The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.

At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.

Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.

Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.

“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”