PYLA Hosts Annual Floodlit Night Volleyball Tourney

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The Parsee Youth League of Ahmedabad (PYLA) (estd. 1980) hosted its annual floodlit night volleyball tournament at The Parsi Sanatorium Grounds, on the banks of the river Sabarmati. The tournament marked the eighth edition of the Jimmy Muglai Cup, in the memory of the Late Jimmy Muglai – a keen sportsman, body-builder and seven-time winner of the Mr. Gujarat title. He was also a keen volleyball player having actively participated and won many tournaments for his Sanatorium team in the past. His sons, Freddy and Burzis Muglai, in the footsteps of their father, have also won many annual volleyball tournaments in the past.

The tournament was played between 8 teams divided into two groups of four teams each. The league stage was played in a round robin format with each team playing a one set match of 25 points each against the other three teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the semis. Super Six topped Group A with three wins while Legends 1 topped Group B with a similar clean record. Khamasa and Sanatorium were the other semi finalists. In the Semis, which was played in a best of three sets of 21 points each, Defending Champions Team Super Six defeated last year’s runners up Khamasa in straight sets, while Legends 1 beat Sanatorium in closely and well fought match.

The final, played in a best of three set of 21 points each, went well past 2:00 am at night. Super Six won the finals easily beating the Legends 1 team in straight sets. Sheroy Daruwala from the winning team won the ‘Best Player’ of the tournament prize while youngsters Harseed Kavina, Zeus Khambatta and Hooshand Gandhi were announced the ‘Most Promising Youngsters’. Bomi Sethna, captain of Super Six was presented the Jimmy Muglai Cup by Freddy Muglai (himself the captain of the semi-finalist Sanatorium team) and son of Late Jimmy Muglai.

All prizes were sponsored by PYLA. PYLA also honoured two past legends of Khanpur team who had excelled and won many PYLA volleyball and cricket tournaments in the seventies and eighties. Mr. Noshir Karkaria and Mr. Kersi Manager were given Lifetime Achievement awards for their achievements in volleyball and cricket over a substantial period of time. A crowd of over 100 witnessed the matches. The Annual Floodlit Night Volleyball Tournament has been hosted by PYLA for the last 37 years.