Mangaluru: The newly incepted Luke Maximillion Rasquinha basketball tournament made its debut at the grounds of St Aloysius Institute of Management & Information Technology (AIMIT) on October 6 and 14.

It was a long cherished dream of the director and institution to organize an intercollege basketball tournament in the campus. This dream of the college was further given wings by a generous soul who is a great supporter of the college’s endeavors Max Rasquinha, a businessman from the city residing in USA. Max has promised to sponsor and support the event for another ten years without fail.

Hence, with gratitude in heart, the tournament was named after his beloved grandson Luke Rasquinha. The response of the colleges really surged the spirit of the organizers to toil ever more diligently to make the tournament a memorable one. Almost eight teams witnessed this event.

Spectators were thrilled to have some excellent teams across Mangaluru as well as Udupi district. The referees used their technical expertise in the game and conducted almost six matches between various colleges. The matches were witnessed by the college staffs and students. At the end of the day, St Aloysius Degree College and Mangalore University made a glorious entry into the final.

Max Rasquinha was the chief guest for the finals. He inaugurated the match by wishing the players to do their best. The match was thrilling and spectators witnessed the high voltage match. Throughout the match, the players kept the onlookers on their toes as the score was never agreeing to side any team but remained equal most of the times. The players of St Aloysius team took control of the other team and clutched the match from the opponents and thus scripted history by becoming the second time champions of Luke Maximillion Rasquinha tournament.

At the prize distribution ceremony, Max Rasquinha stirred the hearts of the players by congratulating the winners while calling the others not losers, but achievers. He also said, “Sports brings people together and it helps us to exhibit our talents and leadership skills.” He also expressed his dream of spreading awareness about sports to large group of students by inviting them for sports events from all over the state.

The principal invited all to keep up the spirit of sports as it leads to greater opportunities and to develop our skills.

The director called on the students to imbibe the spirit of hard work and team work to reach the goals in life. “Sport should be a means of creating a healthy and collaborative society,” he said.