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Year 2001 Events
Badmintion Tournament 2001
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The first official Saraswat Samaj Badminton tournament
(open to all age groups) took place at the Bricket Wood Sports centre, St. Albans, on Saturday 27
October 2001 from 1pm to 7pm.
The tournament expenses were fully borne by the Saraswat Samaj UK. The Samaj also provided
free food consisting of Sausage rolls, crisps and soft drinks; this was supplemented by other
food items brought voluntarily by some members - such as Idlis (brought by Mrs Sharada Sajip)
and Batata Vadas (brought by Mrs Suvarna Haldipur). All this helped to invigorate the tired
contestants after their exhausting matches and to sustain their stamina up to the end of the day!
The tournament consisted of three age groups:
- Under 10
- 11 to 20 years (singles only, mixed)
- 21 to 50 years (singles men & singles women)
- Over 50 years (mixed doubles)
The competition was tough, the standard was high and
everyone sat on the edge of their seat to watch the thrilling finals take place.
The Champions and Runner ups!
The winners and runners up, who collected their trophy
at the subsequent Diwali Get-together, were as follows:
| Group | Winner | Runner up |
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| Under 10 |
Abhimanyu Ginimav |
Abhishek Kulkarni |
| 11 to 20 |
Arun Karnad |
Aarti Kulkarni |
| 21 to 50 (Women) |
Dimple Sthalekar |
Nandita Shirsalkar |
| 21 to 50 (Men) |
Anand Shirsalkar |
Sanjay Bailur |
| 50+ |
Ramesh and Suvarna Haldipur |
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The tournament was a great success, thanks to Aarti Kulkarni, who not yet 13 years of age,
proposed the tournament and sent invitations. Then, together with her father Sanjay,
she arranged the courts and sent details of the venue and the match schedules etc to
contestants.
Thanks also - to all the match referees, especially Vivek Maskeri, who ensured that the
matches were played fairly and professionally (and without any fighting!!), to Ramesh Haldipur,
Sanjay Kulkarni and Mohan Sajip, who organised the schedule of matches, and to all the participants.
There were 62 contestants and 8 non-playing members, a record for a Samaj sports event!
It was exhilarating to see so many taking part.
The Samaj youths would like to see this as an annual event and are hoping that next year
will be just as exciting as this year.
Aarti says - keep practising for the next tournament! and see you next year!
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