The 36th Merchants Cup Lawn Bowls organised by the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), in association with The Telegraph, came to a close with the final night and prize distribution ceremony at the RCGC Maidan Tent on February 11. The tournament had 56 teams of three members each from various corporate houses running through four weeks of highly competitive matches, which began on January 18. After a total of 85 matches, the winners were felicitated and awarded on the final night, which was followed by an evening brimming with music along with snacks, drinks and dinner. Snapshots.
The Merchants Cup Core Committee: (L-R) Vish Pai, Supratik Burman, Hitesh Dani, Chandan Shroff, Dipu Siagal and Rajesh Chandan
(L-R) Rohan Ghosh, Chandan Shroff
“We played this tournament after three years. Every year we have more and more participants. This year we had 56 teams and 168 bowlers, and thus, there is a lot of interest in the game. This game is very addictive, and with that comes a lot of benefits as well. We, at RCGC, promote this game and we always encourage people from all age groups to pursue the sport. I think, it is the right thing that we have been doing here when it comes to the sport,” said Rohan Ghosh, club captain, RCGC.
“We have always promoted the sport and this time we had 56 corporate houses, which is an incredible number. We are very happy with the outreach and the fact that all non-RCGC teams reached the finals despite us playing through the entire year, was a great feeling. The games were excellent and we await the next edition of this historic tournament,” said Chandan Shroff, convener, lawn bowling, RCGC.
Runners up of Silver Plate: Mayyank Dhanuka and Aditya Chowdhary of Elzeven Technologies Private Limited.
Winners of Silver Plate: Kaushal Mehta and Smit Mehta of Sunny and Co.
Runners up of Gold Plate: Pankaj Rana and Darsh Kakkad of Shree RSH Group. (Right) Sanjay Mehta
“The tournament was all about very high-spirits and it happened after a gap of three years, so it was dearly awaited. The most important part is how the sport has come to the spotlight following the Commonwealth and Olympic Games, the historic success that India achieved. There were participants from across the corporate spectrum and it was common ground for healthy competition along with social interaction,” said Sanjay Mehta, director, CK Trading Co.