T he second edition of the Super 16 League organised by RCGC, in association with The Telegraph, concluded with a blast on December 17 at Royal Calcutta Golf Club’s Maidan Tent. This edition of the league saw the Commonwealth winners, both Gold and Silver, engage in a friendly game with the club members. Continuing the one-of-its-kind format, the tournament emerged consecutively for the second time as one of the biggest lawn bowling championships in the country.
The league started on December 1 and the final was held between City Knights and Friends Forever, with City Knights emerging victorious.
The finals were followed by a felicitation event, with guest of honour, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command, Lt Gen R.P. Kalita, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, congratulating and felicitating the Commonwealth Games winners, both men and women. The club shares a deep connection with the Commonwealth medalists, with some of them having played multiple times in RCGC.
The club has skillfully engaged in promoting the sport, even before it gained momentum after the momentous Commonwealth feat. Once the felicitation concluded, the winners of the tournaments were awarded, with the City Knights, Friends Forever and Fire Bowls taking the first, second and third positions respectively. The floor was open and the members partied the night away with the Urban Monkz playing.
“It is a great moment to promote such sports. We need to promote such sports and encourage young people to take up different disciplines of sports because sports inculcates a sporting spirit as well as discipline, sincerity and hard work. I would urge the young population to take up any of these sports as their professions and pursue them,” said guest of honour, Lt Gen R.P. Kalita, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM
“Since the very inception of this club, lawn bowling has been a part of this club. There are women, children and people of all ages who participate. We encourage youngsters coming into the sport. Ladies also form a very integral part of the bowling fraternity. There is no age bar. We have some very fine bowlers who have represented the state. I think some people have gone far to represent the country. The Super 16 League is a very popular event and we want to raise the bar. Next year, I believe it will be an even bigger tournament,” said Rohan Ghosh, club captain
“This is the first tournament where we have live-streamed a match. We have gone up from 40 odd bowlers to 128 bowlers playing this tournament. This is a game that can be played when the sun has gone down. We were very lucky to have the Commonwealth medallists with us this year and as a club we aim to raise the bar of the sport with our Super 16 League,” said Chandan Shroff, lawn bowls convener
Team City Knights pose with the trophy. (L-R) Prawal Tulsyan, Rajesh Tulsyan, Sugandha Kapoor, team captain Rajesh Kapoor, team owner Sanjay Chowdhury and Rajesh Chandan. “I am very happy about the victory. It has been a very difficult journey. All City Knights players played very well. Next year we would like to win again,” said Sanjay Chowdhury
Team Friends Forever, the runners-up of the season. (L-R) Devesh Srivastava, Eliyas Kheyrolla, Sanjay Lakhotia, Rohan Ghosh, team captain Arjun Daing, Gopal Shroff, Chetan Shroff, Ankit Jeloka, Neeti Bansal, Neeraj Kajaria and Chandan Shroff
Team Fire Bowls pose with the second runners-up trophy for the season. (L-R) Devesh Srivastava, team captain Manisha Srivasatava, Sushma Burman, Jaideep Singh, team owner Renu Mohta, Pramod Goenka, Nikunj Agarwal, Bonani Framjee, and Chandan Shroff
“India has arrived at the lawn bowling scene this year after winning two medals at the Commonwealth Games and I felt the next step was to invite all the medallists and raise the bar of the tournament. This sport is picking up momentum in every state, so we tried to push the level by live-streaming the matches. What the IPL did for cricket in India, Super 16 did something similar this year for the National League which is in the pipeline. The talks are on the way towards a national league and we wanted to showcase this event to show what we can do,” said Devesh Srivastava, tournament convener
The oldest and the youngest participants pose together. On the left is Elyas Kheyroolla, 81, who played for Friends Forever. On the right is 12-year-old Nikunj Agarwal, who played for the defending champions and second runners-up, Fire Bowls
Pictures: Rashbehari Das