The ninth edition of Ascent 5-a-side Corporate Football, organised by Excalibur Entertainment, will kick off today at the STM Hall of the Scholastica School at Uttara.
Over 500 footballers from 51 corporate houses splitting into 17 groups will be taking part in the 10-day long tournament, a regular fixture since 2006.Already regarded by the corporate professionals as the ‘largest corporate amateur sporting event’, the tournament has benefitted thousands of corporate executives through team building, bonding with colleagues and management and networking over the years.
For the last nine years the ASCENT Group has retained the title sponsorship of the games and this year Runner Automobiles Ltd has joined as co-sponsor while IPDC and Securex have been named as associate sponsors.
Daily New Age, Dhaka Tribune, SATV, Arkay Multimedia, Colours FM, Pepsi, Bellisimo, Monowara Hospital, Excalibur Entertainment, Highlife Indian Design Matra will act as different other partners.
‘We are delighted to be sponsoring such a tournament every year and we are happy to be supporting Bangladesh sports with this initiative,’ deputy managing director of ASCENT Group Madiha Murshed said at a press conference on Thursday.
‘I hope all the participating teams will show their corporate behaviour during the tournament.’
Co-sponsor Runner Group managing director Brig General Shafiquzzaman was ecstatic at the overwhelming response of corporate houses.
‘For the first time we are going to participate in the tournament and also we are assisting the tournament as a part of our corporate social responsibility programme,’ he said.
‘I’m happy to see all the biggest corporate houses are participating here, so I hope the tournament will be a great success,’ he added.
Reigning champions Dhaka Tribune will participate in group A while last year’s runners-up Beximco Pharmaceuticals has been drawn in group B.
-With New Age input
