The 10-day long activities of HMEM Nubar Cairo’s 60th anniversary celebrations concluded on a high note on Monday 9th April 2018, with the victory of the club’s girls’ and boys’ teams of the two cups.
The three day tournament had started on Saturday 7th April with the opening march and speeches marking the kick-off of the 60th anniversary tournament which saw the participation of the five Egyptian Armenian clubs in both boys & girls’ categories. Dances from Goganian club’s Zankezour dance troupe embellished the opening ceremony even more.
The chairman of HMEM Nubar Cairo, Mr. Jirayr Depoyan, thanked AGBU Cairo & AGBU Egypt for their back up & financial support, as well as the Cairene Community Council and Prelacy, the sponsors and patrons for their backing as well as the guests and participating teams for their presence. Commemorative plates were exchanged between HMEM Nubar Cairo and the representatives of HMEM Nubar Alex, Homenetmen Gamk and Homenetmen Ararat, the chairman of which, Mr. Levon Telpian stressed in concise words on the importance of bringing all Egyptian Armenian youth together through sports.
A big upset was the inability of AGBU-AYA Aleppo’s teams to be part of these celebrations after many unsuccessful attempts to guarantee their presence in Egypt. Upset for AYA Aleppo’s and HMEM Nubar’s youth who were all looking forward to this get together since several month, and upset also to the organizers who saw their several month-long efforts unrewarding.
On Saturday 7th April, in the boys’ category, HMEM Nubar Cairo’s B team defeated Homenetmen Gamk 66/56, while Homenetmen Ararat defeated St. Therese 72/52 . In the girls’ category, HMEM Nubar Cairo defeated a selection of players from HMEM Nubar Alex and Homenetmen Gamk 66/22. Praises to the board of the two Alexandrian clubs for their allegiance to contribute in the success of the tournament through their participation, in spite of the short notice.
After the matches of Saturday a get-together was organized by HMEM Nubar Cairo board for all the participating teams at the garden, another great occasion to mingle and chat until late hours.
On Sunday 8th April, HMEM Nubar Cairo’s A team defeated the club’s B team 81/45, while Homenetmen Ararat’s boys defeated HMEM Alex 67/64 after an exciting match.
After the matches, guests, players and officials set off to the Hilton Cairo Heliopolis Hotel to attend the grand ball which featured the most famous singer of the Armenian Diaspora, Adiss Harmandian, who astonished the presence with his untarnished characteristic melodious voice and stirred the emotions of the 390 guests who were overjoyed to dance until 3:30 am on the live tunes of this great singer.
Monday 9th April, was the final day of the 60th anniversary celebrations. After the lovely brunch organized by Goganian club, the social and sports schedule continued in the afternoon and later in the evening with the final matches of the basketball tournament which saw one of the most exciting girls’ matches between HMEM Nubar Cairo and Homenetmen Ararat.
Before the start of the matches, the chairman of HMEM Nubar Cairo, Mr. Jirayr Depoyan thanked the presence for their support, the visitors who had made the long trips to attend these festivities, the 5 Egyptian Armenian clubs for their input and participation.
Mrs. Sevan Dertadian, who handled the proceedings of the program, read AGBU’s AYA Aleppo club’s congratulatory letter and invited Mr. Koko Shamammian, the board member of AYA Aleppo, to receive HMEM Nubar Cairo’s commemorative plate. Mr. Shamammian also transmitted AYA Aleppo’s message of support to the organizers.
It was then time to honor, one of the greatest basketballers of HMEM Nubar Cairo of the fifties; Hagop Sarkissian, or better known as “Menta”, followed by Vivianne Armaghanian, also one of the greatest players of HMEM Nubar Cairo’s girls’ team of the sixties. They received the clubs commemorative medals amid the cheers and applause of the spectators. On this occasion, HMEM Nubar Cairo’s long time player Simon Depoyan, who was playing his last match with the team, was honored along with Hagop Karagozian, the manager of the seniors team for more than 10 years, and Armen Baltayan, tha manager of the juniors team. They all obtained the club’s honorary medals for their faithful services.
It was then time for the girls’ finals. After a very competitive and balanced match, the home team grabbed the final victory after much snag from the visitors, who in spite of their excellent form, failed yet again to overcome the highly spirited girls of HMEM Nubar Cairo who continued their uninterrupted winning streak of these derbies. The final result was the close score of 50/48 synonym of one more victory to our girly champions.
The men’s final was also between the two friendly rivals and saw the victory of HMEM Nubar Cairo over Homenetmen Ararat 90/50. A significant double win on this final day, and one more reason to celebrate after a superb 60th anniversary eventful ten days of festivities and celebrations.
Well done to HMEM Nubar Cairo’s Board and to its active Ladies Committee for this great organization.
VD
