Sachin Tendulkar’s BAT BID AT RS.2,50,000
Pune Sunday, January 08, 2017: The evening’s prize distribution for the Nirmayan Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament by Rajiv Datar in aid of Pratham at the JW Marriot in Pune was an enjoyable one with Neha Sareen and golfer Kunal Bhasin holding fort during the auction. While Sareen thanked the prize winners and the better halves of the pro golfers with momentos from Swarovski, the winners of the Charity Pro Am took away exciting prizes. Mukesh Kumar won along with the glittery trophy from Swarovski from the defending champion Shiv Kumar and Pratham founder MadhavChavan – also won his team the stylish Callaway Golf Drivers, Invites to the Shiv Kapur Tournament.
The auction hosted by golfer Kunal Bhasin was an exciting one as Bhasin egged the audiences to dig deep into their pockets. Set off by Manisha Jaitha who won the first bid for an autographed bat for Pune’s IPL Super Giants 2016, the auction raised over 5 lakhs for Pratham Education Foundation. David Ferrer’s Autographed Shoes were picked up for Rs 50,000 by Shiv Kapur and Ujjwal Singh and businessman Kanwaljeet Singh bid 42,000 for AnirbanLahiri’s Golf Shoes worn at Rio’s Olympic 2016.
However the big prize was for Sachin Tendulkar’s signed bat. Bidding between multiple parties and even a late bid provided all the drama that the ‘God of Cricket’ merits! The auction was closed by avid golfer Manisha Jaitha taking home the prized bat for Rs.2,50,000. She said post the winning bid, “It was for a good cause and one close to my heart.”
Fierce bidding between restaurateur Wasim Khan and Nikunj Dhanuka bid fiercely for golfer Anirban Lahiri’s driver that he used to hit the winning long drive of 327 yards at the PGCA championship and was finally capped at 1,20,000! Sanjiv Malhotra outbid Pune builder Anant Pandit for a signed Callaway bag by the pros of 1,15,000 while restaurateur Wasim Khan took home a dazzling Swarovski dragon.
The evening was rounded off with Rajiv Datar thanking the golfers for making his dream come true. “The heart of this tournament are the pro golfers. Not one of them refused to play. Despite the fact that the Asian Tour starts tomorrow in Bangkok – 4 of the pros came to Pune, played and flew out from Mumbai tonight. That sort of family that Nirmayan has created has been truly encouraging!
