Pioneers lift BATA's 6th annual volleyball trophy

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) organized its 6th Annual Volleyball Tournament on June 23 at Sunnyvale, California. Proceeds from the tournament were donated to the 'India Literacy Project' (ILP) projects in India.

Due to the overwhelming response, this year also there were 3 groups 'Advanced', 'Intermediate' and 'Recreation' for men. There was also a group for women.

In total 40 teams have participated in this event, involving more than 300 players. The playing ground was packed with well-prepared players and enthusiastic supporters and fans. The tournament started early morning around 8am and went throughout the day till 8pm.

In the 1st round, the matches were played round-robin format and top two teams in each group advanced into the quarter finals. The teams participating varied from seasoned volleyball teams to casual players who formed a team to support the cause.

Most of the matches were very closely contested with several matches resulting in ties or matches being decided with a differential of one or two points. The audience enjoyed several nail biting matches.

In the women's group there were 4 teams. Tino Mom's won the finals beating Power Girls. In men's recreation group Fremont Friends were the champs beating Fun Volleyball.

In men's Intermediate group VB Gang-A won the finals beating Bouncers in a very close match. In men's advanced group Pioneers & Powers won convincing victories and entered the finals.

In all the matches players exhibited their skills and style with huge spikes and returns resulting in long rallies. Pioneers won the finals in three sets.

At the conclusion of the tournament Vijaya Aasuri (BATA Advisor) thanked all the teams for their participation and introduced the tournament main organizer Shiva Shekhar Peparthi and applauded all his efforts in organizing this successful tournament.

Along with Shiva Shekhar Peparthi, Prasad Mangina had coordinated the efforts in making this tournament a grand success. Speaking on this occasion Ramesh Konda (BATA President) said he is extremely happy with the response and thanked Veeru, Prasad, Shekhar, Kalyan, Kamesh, Karun, Subhash, Yaswanth, Sumanth, Kondal, Shiva, Srinivas and other BATA volunteers for their support.

Ramesh Konda invited Mr. Gurdeep (remit2India), Ravi Gondipalli (Ravi Tax services ) to present trophies to the all the winners. Speaking on this occasion Mr. Gurdeep & Ravi congratulated all the players for their dedication and playing the sport with right spirit. Veeru Vuppala (TANA ' Jt Treasurer) and Hema Rao Nandipati (TANA RVP) were also present.

Srikant (ILP - Coordinator) thanked BATA for their support and said the money raised from this tournament will be spent towards providing free education to at least 3 schools for a year in India.

BATA committee consisting of Ramesh Konda (President), Kamesh Malla (Vice President), Kalyan Kattamuri(Secretary), Srirsha Battula (Treasurer), Yaswanth Kudaravalli (Jt. Secretary), Vijaya Aasuri, Jyotsna Bendapudi, Sumanth Pusuluri, Kondal Komaragiri and Veeru Vuppala thanked all the volunteers for their efforts in organizing the tournament and ensuring all matches were conducted on time.

BATA committee specially thanked all the sponsors for their continued support.

Remit2India was the tournaments grand sponsor and the food sponsor was Andhra Bhavan Indian Cuisine. Additionally, Ravi Tax Services, Channel Real Estate & Mortgage, You Smile Dental, Swagat Indian Cuisine, Peacock Indian Cuisine, Scopus Consulting Group, and Rootshell Enterprise Technologies are also sponsors of the event.