Calcutta Cricket & Football Club

Rajiv Puri and Bikram Das have brought extra attention to Cycle Polo by initiating and holding the “Legends Cycle polo tournament 2012” on 31st March, under flood lights. Cycle polo season took off this year with the above tournament called the Legends Cycle Polo, 2012. This was a one day tournament between six teams mainly consisting of players of the yester years. There was an intensity not seen recently on the grounds of CCFC where 36 players took the field to play a round robin league, to be followed by the finals between the two leading teams. Tension came from playing with the legends of the game under floodlights and with the incoming nor’wester followed by rain.

It was great for the non playing members of the club to watch all the erstwhile players striking the ball with such confidence as if they were playing every day. With Vijai Singh refereeing, most of the matches were played according to the rules and without any hassle whatsoever. When the round robin matches were nearing to an end the unexpected nor’wester came as a spoil sport and ended the matches.

The winners and the Runners up of the tournament were decided on points. The winners of the legends 2012 tournament were Gauri, Lav Jhingan, Neel, Hemu Jalan and Sandeep, whereas the Runners up were Gabai, Chotu Rawat, Rajiv Takru, J L Roy, and Andrew Hooper. All the participating players too earned a medal. The prizes and the evening which followed were sponsored by Parcon India Pvt Ltd and a well wisher of Cycle Polo sponsored eight brand new cycles.

Unfortunately one of the players Jyoti Pratap Singh Deo after, the first game, where he scored a goal for his team, felt uneasy, and was taken to the hospital in the waiting ambulance. Much later that evening we received information that he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and did not survive. We express our deepest condolence to his wife, two daughters and to the rest of his family.

Sports Day was celebrated with fanfare with races for kids and members. The Members’ Cookout presented an array of delicacies with Johnny providing the lunch for members. The day saw a decent turnout of members and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The Club participated in the Inter City Club Sports Carnival as one of the host Clubs. 28 Clubs comprising of local, outstation and foreign teams participated. CCFC finished a very creditable second, losing out by a single point.

The Club continued to organise successful coaching camps for members’ children in Cricket, football, tennis and swimming. Our Squash team finished runner up in the Saturday Club Sports Carnival.

Bridge continues to gain in popularity at the Club and Bridge lessons have been organised once a week apart from the usual Thursday evening Bridge. Intra Club tournaments were held on the 3rd Saturday of every month and the Club hosted a very successful Inter Club Tournament. An All India prize money tournament was organised in the memory of late Lalit Mohanka by the Club and Lalit Mohanka Foundation. Top Bridge players of the country took part and the tournament was held very successfully at our Club. Credit goes to Bhaiya Bose, our Bridge Captain, for running the section well.

The Darts team continue to take part in the Inter Club tournaments and perform very creditably.

Our sporting activities, as well as our efforts to upgrade the facilities the Club Offers, both sporting and otherwise for members, are successful thanks to the support we receive from our sponsors. We thank them for the continued support.

In keeping with our earlier guideline, we have curtailed our financial allocation to Pro Sports. We also took a conscious decision to focus on grooming youngsters and giving them a chance to excel. Although they have recorded moderate success, we are however pursuing with our policy of focusing on young talent.

The activities at the Maidan Tent were limited to practice facilities for football, hockey and cricket.