The Chicago Telugu Association (CTA) and North America Telugu Society (NATS) together has conducted the T-10 Cricket tournament 2013 in Chicago from 8:00am to 8:00pm on Saturday August 31st 2013 at Downers grove Cricket grounds to raise funds for the Manavatha Free Medical Camp. CTA cricket tournament has received tremendous response from enthusiastic cricket fans from all over Chicago. Nine (9) teams and around 150 players have participated in this tournament and put a spectacular show of cricket.

The teams were divided into three groups Group A, Group B and Group C.  Group A teams included Simhalu team lead by Samarendra Singh, Lehigh Strikers team lead by Sriram Vannemreddy and CTA Challengers team lead by Praveen Moturu and Vijay Venigalla. Group B teams included Falcons team lead by Suthan Periyasamy, EMD team lead by Naren Sharma, Tupakulu lead by Pavan Abbareddy. Group C teams included Deepark team lead by Jaimin Patel, Friends XI team lead by Dhanraj Reddy and Tootalu team lead by Vijay Namburi and Rajesh Veedulamudi.

A heavy rain pouring down didn’t dampen the spirit of the game; the players showed great patience and stayed all day along to play the games. CTA Cricket Organizing committee Madan Pamulapati, SubbaRao Putrevu, Sridhar Mumgandi, Ramesh Maryala, Srinivas Boppana and Nagendra Vege welcomed the teams and explained the tournament rules. Each team played two games in the first round with some nail biting finishes and showing good sportsmanship and spirit of cricket. Simhalu, Falcons, Deepark and Lehigh Strikers have emerged as the winners in the preliminary rounds moving to the semi-final round. First Semi final match was played between Simhalu and Deepark was a very close game and Deepark won the game. Second Semi Final match was played between Falcons and Lehigh Strikers was put up by some spectacular massive sixes and fours and Falcons won the game. Falcons and Deepark qualified for the Finals and due the inclement weather conditions finals was postponed and will be played at a later date.

The prize money for the winners, runners and semifinalists was sponsored by the key event sponsors EvolutYz, Idhasoft, Taste (Indochinese Cusine). Ample water, drinks and snacks were provided by New York Life insurance agent Krishna Rangaraju. CTA Sports Organizing Committee Madan Pamulapati and Subba Rao Putrevu thanked all the Umpires and volunteers who have dedicated themselves to provide an excellent service to the tournament. CTA President Srinivas Boppana thanked the sponsors and organizing committee and players for successfully conducting the event and mentioned that this cricket tournament event is conducted to build awareness about Chicago Telugu Association(CTA) Manavatha Free medical event and also encourage everyone to be part of this wonderful organization.CTA and NATS board of director Ravi Achanta highlighted the NATS activities and encouraged everyone to participate in the future CTA-NATS Chicago events and support the community activities.

CTA executive committee Sridhar Mumgandi, CTA Secretary; Ramesh Maryala, Treasurer; VaraPrasad Bodapati; Nagendra Vege; Murthy Koppaka and Rao Achanta have presented the medals and Prizes to the players. CTA thanked all the volunteers Ram Tunuguntla, Manohar Pamulapati, Mahesh Alla, Pandu Changalasetty, Srikanth Malathi and many others for their selfless support in executing the tournament.