Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) organized it’s 3rd Annual Volleyball Tournament on April 18, 2009 at Encinal Park Sunnyvale, California. Proceeds from the tournament were given to fund “India Literacy Project “(ILP) projects in India.

The tournament was sponsored by Praveen (Biryani Bowl Indian Fast Food) and Jay Prasad Vejendla (Jass & Associates LLC).

Due to the overwhelming response in the previous years, this year the format was changed to accommodate 3 groups such as “Advanced” , “Intermediate” & “Recreational” for Men. There was also a group for Women. In total 46 teams have participated in this event, involving more than 300 players. The playing ground was packed with the well prepared players and enthusiastic supporters and fans. The tournament started early morning around 8am and went through all day till 6pm.

The format of the tournament was round-robin fashion in the initial rounds and top 2 teams in each group advanced into the quarter finals. The teams participating varied from seasoned volleyball teams to friends/colleagues who formed a team. This mix of teams resulted in some exciting and colorful matches. Most of the matches were very closely contested with several matches resulting in ties or matches being decided with a differential of one o two points. The audience enjoyed several nail biting finishes with huge spiking and returns.

In the Women’s group there were 6 teams (VB Daisies, SuperCool Volleyball, Fremont Angels A & B, Villa Serra, JillMax). JillMax won the finals beating last year champs VB Daisies

In Men’s recreation group Gold Diggers were the champs beating 6 Pack Spikers. In Men’s Intermediate group Powers B won the finals beating Washington Park – B in a very close match

In Men’s advanced group Ardenwood A & Powers A won convincing victories and entered the finals. Although Ardenwood A was the clear favorite, Powers A didn’t allow them to feel comfortable & gave them a good fight.

In all the matches players exhibited their skills and style with huge spikes and returns resulted in long rallies. Ardenwood A (w) won the finals in 2 sets.

At the conclusion of the tournament Prasad Mangina (BATA president) thanked all the volunteers and BATA committee members for their support in organizing this successful tournament. Prasad also thanked the sponsors Biryani Bowl and Jass & Associates. BATA committee recognized Shiv Shekhar Peparthi who was the main architect of this tournament & presented a plaque to him in appreciation of his service. During the awards ceremony all the winners / runners were presented with trophies and makers of telugu movie “Yedi Nijam” (produced in Bay Area) presented complimentary tickets

Subhash (ILP) thanked BATA for their support and said the money raised from this tournament will be spent towards providing free education to the poor children in India.

The committee and volunteers of BATA put in a lot of time and effort in organizing the tournament and ensuring all matches were conducted in time. BATA committee consisting of Prasad Mangina (President), Srilu Veligeti (Vice President), Srinivas Kolli (Secretary), Srini Mangipudi (Treasurer), Ramesh Konda (Joint Secretary), Vijaya Aasuri, Sireesha Bathula, Kamesh Malla, Venkat Malladi, Veeru Vuppala, Ravi Thiruveedula & Karun Veligeti.