SEAGATE-TAIT IT Cup 2018: LG-Orno Gladiators Wins the trophy

The mega cricket event organised by the Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) was a unique initiative that saw OEM’s and IT retailers (Channels) come together to play for as a team. The event was held at the Bhakti Park Garden, Anik Wadala Link Road, Bhakti Park, Wadala East, and Mumbai. The LG-Orno Gladiators, a team owned by LG in association with its distributor Orno Computers, displayed an all-rounder team performance as they played with 11 other teams for two days to win the coveted grand final and claim the SEAGATE-TAIT IT CUP 2018 title.

The TAIT IT Cricket cup has been an annual event since 2014 and this year assumed a larger, reformed format, with active participation by the members. 2018 has seen the event expand to a larger, innovative format, spreading over two days and involving the OEM’s for the first time. Sphere-headed by the new director on board, Sunil Thariani, with the event committee members; directors namely  Samir Parekh, Samir Mehta, Magan Gangani, Gopal Pansari. This initiative was well supported by the board. The event was meticulously planned and followed the popular IPL format of cricket. The 12 participating teams were formed with key OEM’s as owners and the distributors as co-owners, making them close partners and team members. The teams were divided in 4 groups and played 12 league matches, 4 quarter finals and 2 semi- finals. Also unique to this year’s TAIT IT Cup 2018 was the association with mumbailive.com who was the broadcast partner for the event and was instrumental in recording and broadcasting the tournament to reach over 37 countries, garnering more than 16,000 views over two days!

Jwala Singh, a formal national level cricketer, current director of the Mumbai Cricket Club and coach of Prithvi Shaw – the illustrated Indian cricket captain of the under -19 team was the honorable chief guest at the tournament.

Speaking of the event, K. R. Chaube, President TAIT, said, “The TAIT has been organizing the TAIT IT Cup for the past 15 years with earlier 11 years with the season ball and open-ended format and since last 4 years in reformed format. Each time we try to improvise. This year we have introduced a very innovative format, involving all the partners in the larger IT ecosystem, including OEMs (vendors), distributors, channels, TAIT members etc. Our objective is to bring these partners together in an informal and engaging platform where, through cricket, they can work towards winning as a team effort. The same bonding and team spirit can then be applied off the field and they can work together to mutually benefit and grow the business while creating a close-knit IT community.”

Title Sponsor for the tournament, Sameer Bhatia, Country Manager, India and SAARC Region, Seagate added, “I would like to thank TAIT for organizing and meticulously planning this mega event and bringing the entire IT community together. It is a wonderful platform for OEM’s, distributors and partners to bond and unwind in a playfully competitive environment. We, as IT professionals are so busy in our daily schedules and, although a form of networking, events like these are effective stress busters, allowing us to gain a small part of the lost work-life balance. In the past couple of years, Seagate has been actively associated with social networking and events such as these and we plan to continue encouraging such initiatives in the future.”

Highlighting the nuances of the event,  Sunil Thariani, Director, TAIT, explained, “We had 12 teams and 19 matches which were extremely exciting and gripping. All the teams have played hard and played fair. We are thankful especially to Mumbailive.com who has helped us drastically to have the reach of this tournament across the world, where friends and families all over the globe have been following the matches and calls have been coming in. In the future, we hope to take this to a larger scale, make it a more professionally handled event. In terms of learning, we will shift to night matches to ensure the businesses of members in not affected and more member families can join in to witness. I would also like to thank all our TAIT Directors and sponsors and OEM’s for their support.”

The HP Savex Stars Vs Livetech Hitters and LG Orno Gladiators Vs Epson Sanghvi Challengers played the two semi-finals, with LG Orno Gladiators and HP Savex Stars making it to the finals. The HP Savex Stars & LG Orno Gladiators fought it out in the finals, with LG Orno Gladiators winning the cup by 6 wickets. HP Savex Stars were awarded the runner’s up trophy. Apart from these, the other coveted titles included:

The Man-of the series title was awarded to Aakash Aakhade of LG Orno Gladiators sponsored by Seagate and the winning team and runner team each member were facilitated with medals and the gift from Livetech.

Apart from this, every match of the tournament recognized the following award categories:

-          Man of the match sponsored by Seagate and Netprotector

-          Stylish Player sponsored by Eaton

-          Curve moment of the match by Sound Solutins

-          Every six and best catch by Suresh Computers

The Event has been sponsored by:

Title Sponsor- Seagate, Co-Sponsor DBS, KIT Sponsor- ACER, Boundary Sponsor- TSS Vision, Mumbai Live TV Sponsor- D-Link, Radio City Sponsor- Creative Peripherals, Tent Sponsors – Bluecom, Silver Sponsors – Zotac, Cheer leaders Sponsors – Intex.

Associate Sponsors- SAMSUNG QLED Monitor curved, I Ball, Thrumm, Eaton, NP AV, Logitech, Mans

Gifting Sponsors- Seagate, Livetech, OM Shakti Computers, Kaspersky, Suresh Computers.

Pawan Jaiswal, Sales Manager – Mumbai, Acer India said, “Acer has been actively participating in various TAIT events, including the cricket tournaments. This year is a much larger format and we have our own team for the first time. We are playing with three of our distributors and quite a few members of Acer Mumbai staff. With 12 teams I think there are close to 200 members of the IT ecosystem gathered here on this ground, making this a great platform to interact and bond in an informal setting with the community. This will definitely create an ease of doing business. I look forward to be a part of this event for future years.”

Anoop Jarial, Vice-President, Product Marketing, D-Link India said, “The event has been much beyond what we had expected. It was a beautiful concept that has been executed equally well. TAIT has done a wonderful job of getting great players, great teams and get so many members from different parts of the IT business segment is an achievement. The social networking opportunity is a great way to bond with people who we interact with every day in a professional way and its great to connect with them in a playful format.”

The award ceremony concluded the proceedings of the two-day tournament and was marked by enthusiastic cheers appreciating the special performance by individual and team players. The organisers and the sponsor OEM’s too were in high spirits, as the event smoothly unfolded over the last two days and ended on a high note.

Sharing his excitement upon winning the coveted cup, the winning captain, Mukesh Mehta of Orno Computers said, “It is a great feeling to have won the coveted title. I would like to especially point out and thank the TAIA board and Sunil Thariani for organising the TAIT tournament this year and taking to a whole new level all together. Managers and Presidents of the some of India’s biggest OEM’s are playing today as team members with their distributors and even office boys, sharing simple joys and excitements of sportsmanship! Under Sunil’s supervision, I envision the TAIT IT cup to become even bigger, with more sports talent coming up and being appreciated.”

The winning team owner, Sambit Nanda, LG Computers added, “Participating and owning the winning team for TAIT IT Cup has been a great experience all together! Orno Computers has been one of our biggest distributor in Mumbai and though we have been interacting daily, playing with them a part of the single team, was a different experience all together. This will help in ease of business and help mutual growth. I would like to really thank TAIT for this initiative and for the meticulous preparation and execution.”

The matches were played as per the rules and guidelines set aside and monitored actively by Rahul Jahveri and Dewang Thakore, dynamic TAIT members and entrepreneurs. The commentators, umpires and the scorers were highly experienced and proactive, giving the entire event a fair and professional flavor.

All the matches saw enthusiastic participation, combined with lively commentary, great food and refreshments and an excited audience. The second day of the event was also graced by family members of the players and it all added up as a fun and exciting weekend, away from the routine stress of the jobs where the different players of the IT ecosystem bonded together purely as passionate players, making the visible comradery between them heart-warming!