The sixth Annual Pawo Thupten Ngodup Memorial Basketball Tournament, like every year, was organized by the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey on August 21st and 22nd 2004 in Astoria Park Basketball Court, New York. Fourteen teams took part in the tournament this year; teams comprised from neighboring cities like Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston and Amherst. Many different teams from the Tri-State area joined the game; there were the Tibetan teams from the different boroughs as well as the Sherpa, Nepalese and Bhutanese teams.
On the first day of the tournament (August 21st 2004), a knock-out system of game was played, resulting to seven teams heading towards the quarter final. On the second day (August 22nd 2004), quarterfinal matches were played between six teams with Washington D.C. skipping the quarterfinal towards semifinal through gaining by.
The first semifinal was played between Kyidong team (New York) against Outsiders team (Boston). The game went in favor of Kyidong Team. In the second semifinal match, Future Team (New York) defeated Washington D.C.
The tournament’s final match was played between the Kyidong Team against the Future Team, both from New York. The teams played very well which made the game culminate with a nominal difference in the final score of 38-35, thus, Future Team winning the game.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) was presented to Mr. Losel of Kyidong Team and the Best team performance went to Team Bhutan (Druk). The most inspirational Team Award was presented to Little Jordan Team and three special Youngster Award were also presented to inspire young Tibetans in the field of sports.
To craft tournament fair and make the winners proud and losers lose gracefully, the organizers requested three Tibetans and one Bhutanese referee during the first day of the tournament. The Quarterfinal, Semifinal and final matches were played under the auspices of professional New York referees, three time keepers and two score keepers.
The trophies of the 6th Annual Pawo Thupten Ngodup was presented by Mr. Gyaltso la, one of the Hunger Strikers during the “TYC resort’s Indefinite Hunger Strike” in front of the United Nation’s building in New York from April 2nd 2004 to May 3rd 2004.
