The Bhutanese community of Nashville, Tennessee is gearing up to host the fifth annual interstate soccer tournament.
US certified soccer referee Jitu Basnet told the Bhutan News Service that the tournament has been scheduled for June this year.
“The recent meeting of the organizing committee decided to hold the fifth annual interstate soccer tournament from June 19-21,” said Basnet. According to Basnet, around 40 teams from various states are expected to join the tournament.
Suman Subba, organizing committee coordinator, has informed that the mission of organizing such a grand event “is to strength the social fabric of the Bhutanese community”.
“We primarily aim to engage our youths and community volunteers in such a sport. I am sure it provides a platform of good networking and collaboration opportunities among the resettled Bhutanese,” added Subba.
According to Subba, the host committee also decided to honor and recognize veteran Bhutanese soccer players and other dedicated community volunteers.
The organizing committee has been planning to complete all matches on the first two days and the finale on the third day. It is learnt to have been coordinating with local agencies to book playgrounds and arrange other logistics.
The tournament is expected to cost around US $ 30,000-$40,000. Volunteers from the host community have been learnt to be planning to contribute to add up to entry fees that would be charged to each team to reach the financial target for the entire management.
Each team would be charged an entry of US $ 501, according to Subba. The first two team will receive troopies and some cash prizes.
A group of former Bhutanese soccer players from Atlanta, Georgia initiated the scheme of organizing interstate soccer tournament on annual basis in 2011 by organizing the first game in Atlanta, Georgia. The second and third tournaments were held in California and Texas respectively, while the fourth tournament was held in Erie, PA, last year.
