By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, June 1, 2018: The largest non governmental organization of the Tibetan exile community, the Tibetan Youth Congress, on Friday began their ‘Thank you India’ football tournament here with 16 contenders comprising of the organization’s regional chapters around India.
The inaugural tournament hosts teams from regional chapters such as Tezu, Shimla, Bir, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Dharamshala as well as stalwarts of Tibetan football club representatives such as Dhondupling FC (Clement Town), Mundgod and Victory team that played in the last GCMGC gold cup earlier this year.
The opening day also featured a good will exhibition game between the indo-Tibet Friendship Association and the team that represented the Tibetan NGOs. The President of the TYC Tenzing Jigme said that the initiative serves dual purposes of espousing gratitude to the Indian government as well as giving the Tibetan youth a platform to foster brotherhood and unity through sports.
Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok and Ajay Mankhotia from the Indo-Tibet friendship Association attended the official function as guests.
The opening game of the tournament between RTYC Mundgod and RTYC Manali saw a one sided contest with the former securing a decisive win with a margin of five goals to none. The second match between Dhondupling FC and RTYC Bangalore ended in a solitary goal in favor of the team from Dehradun while the last match between Victory team and RTYC Bir gave the audiences a thrilling box-to-box game which eventually finished two goals to one in favour of Bir.
The tournament’s ‘thank you India’ theme is observed since the beginning of the year, and is an umbrella initiative spearheaded by the exile Tibetan government known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration in thanking the government of India for hosting and helping the Tibetan refugee community that is exiled in the country following Tibet’s occupation by China.
The matches are streamed live on TYC Facebook page using Iphones as cameras. The winner of the tournament will take home a trophy and a cash prize of one hundred thousand rupees.
