Gadchiroli Feb. 5 (District Correspondent) In a historic and glittering event, the Gadchiroli District Premier League (GDPL) cricket tournament organized by Lloyds Metals and energy Ltd. (LMEL) was inaugurated on the sprawling grounds in MIDC area at the hands of cricket legend Ravi Shastri this afternoon in a grand ceremony amidst the cheers of the thousands of cricket lovers and citizens.
The portraits of Birsa Munda and Veer Baburao shedmake were garlanded by Mr. Shastri and Prabhakaran to mark the opening of the tournament.
Mr. B. Prabhakaran, managing director of LMEL, Mr. S. S. Khandwawala, Director of LMEL and chief convenor of the tournament, Colonel Vikram Mehta, Director, Bholubhai Somnani, businessman, Ms. Sheetal Somnani were prominently present.
As soon as Mr. Shastri, accompanied by Mr. Prabhakaran and other dignitaries, arrived on the ground, he was welcomed by the audience by huge cheers and applauses.
A march past was taken out by the participating teams dressed in their colourful suits holding their respective flags. Mr. Shastri then proceeded to the titch and declared the games open and tossed the coin. The opening match was played between Lloyds Metals team and Mulchera Tigers team.
It is really great that such a huge cricket tournament has been organized by the Lloyds Company in a remote place like Gadchiroli, said Mr. Shastri in his opening remarks. This will certainly boost up the cricket skill of the local players and will help them to get ready for the national games, he hoped.
Mr. Prabhakaran said the Lloyds Company is determined to boost up the local youths in different fields and the cricket tournament is one such step to bring forward their cricket spirit. The youths of Gadchiroli are good players of kabaddi, kho-kho and Lloyds will help them in cricket too, he stated.
Mr. Khandwawala gave the details of the tournament and the prizes kept for the winners. The players will show good performance, he hoped and wished them best.
As many as 16 teams from across the district including the team of the Lloyds Company itself and also from the Revenue, Police and forest departments are participating in the tournament that will go on day and night for about a month.
A large number of youths, eminent personalities and citizens attended the programme. Elaborate security arrangements were made for the event.
