The Gulf Bank sponsored KEA Friendship Cup Football tournament which began recently at the Salmiya Sports Club, with the players from 8 alumni teams battling it out to be crowned Inaugural Champions in the month-long tournament.
The Opening Ceremony began, amidst a minor dust storm, with the alumni teams lining up with their mascots, KEA children in the different alumni colours. Following a welcome speech by the General Convenor - KEF, Varkey Monsey Kuruvilla, the officials of the tournament, Yusuf Witi from Zambia and  Mustafa Cisse from Gambia were introduced to the players as well as the spectators.
The KEA President, Finney George, declared the tournament Open with the Official kick-off of the tournament. Formalities concluded, the focus then shifted to the playing field which saw 4 well-contested matches.
In the 1st match, Captain Sreekumar ( Player of the Match ) and Sunil scored in a comfortable 2 - 0 win for TKMCE against MACE, for whom Captain George missed a 2nd half penalty.
The 2nd match saw NSSCE, led by a brace each from Thasneem and Naseem, come from behind twice to defeat OECK 4 - 2. Kim and Basil scored a goal each for OECK in a losing cause. Basil ( OECK ), though was later declared Player of the Match.
In the 3rd match, CETAA also had to come from behind on the back of a brace by Captain James Daniel to hold off a stubborn NIT. CETAA won 2 - 1, with Pramod scoring the lone NIT goal. James was declared Player of the match.
The final match of the day saw hosts KEA and TEC play out a tense goal-less draw where neither team managed to assert any level of supremacy over the other. Dinto of TEC was declared the Player of the Match.
Spectators were also given a chance to win prizes for guessing correctly the Player of the Match for each match. Winners of this contest went home with a shopping voucher from Gulf Mart.