By Ayushman Bharat Cup [Meaning in English : Long Live India]
As announced earlier , on the occasion of 73rd Indian independence day , Men In Blue Cricket Club (https://www.facebook.com/MenInBlueJapan/) In association with Indian Embassy has organized a leather ball cricket tournament titled “ Ayushman Bharat Cup “ [Meaning in English : Long Live India ] on 17th August , Saturday ( Time : 07:00 AM – 05:00 PM ) in Edogawa.
Whole idea was to celebrate “Indian Independence Day” together with Indian diaspora. H.E. Sanjay Kumar Verma , DCM Raj Shrivastava , VCC Director Prof. Siddharth Singh along with entire Embassy team participated in the tournament. Inauguration was done by H.E. Sanjay Kumar Verma followed by National Anthem and introduction with all the participating teams.
Organizing committee member of Ayushman Bharat cup has put in a lot of effort to make this tournament success. As part of the cultural celebration we had couple of dance performances by India as well as Japanese artists (PJ flow Bhangra Group from Osaka and Indian Bollywood Dance School) People were happy to relish special attraction was the Indian food counter which people enjoyed a lot . Special thanks to our kind sponsor “SEINAN GROUP” & Co-sponsor “Wa-InDo (Indian Restaurant) for their kind support. Though it was a hot sunny day, people turned out in good numbers to be a part of this celebration. Over all it was a great day of Cricket for both players and as well as spectators’ the spectators were given a chance to win the gift hampers with different game activities.Special thanks to IISJ , Tokyo and Localeyes, Sano City for their extended support to the this event.
On behalf of Indian Cricket Community , we would like to congratulate all of our #U19 Japan National Team player for qualifying for the next year U19 World cup 2020 on this occasion.
Small token of appreciation by H.E. Sanjay Kumar Verma Jee ,Indian Ambassador to all proud parents.
Each of the 7 participating team played 2 league matches out of which 4 team qualified for semi finals ( IECC , Tokyo Titans , MIB & Falcons ) .It was quite an interesting match between the finalist Men In Blue & Falcons – Congratulations to Men in Blue Cricket Club for wining the Ayushman Bharat Cup. All the participating team and winner were handed over token of appreciation by Prof. Siddharth Singh , VCC director from Indian Embassy. Thank you Perera Vithanage Mihindu san for umpiring today. You guys did an excellent job.
The tournament turned out to be a good platform for the community to come together , spend a day , feel cricket , dance , food , and lots of fun. There is an abundance of cricket being played in Japan by Indian professionals now under Japan Cricket Association ,who is responsible for administrating and developing cricket within Japan.Indian community members are also participating to promote cricket here.Many Indian cricket clubs have their senior & junior team and all are playing highest level of game here.
In the present scenario of flourishing India-Japan relationship,we want to promote the culture of cricket as a tool of soft diplomacy to increase people to people relationship between Indian diaspora & local Japanese people.
The sense of discipline, team-spirit, fellow-feelings, and the spirit of sportsmanship made it really significant.
Thanks & Regards,
Vikash Ranjan
My Take on Whatever 