Campus Central
DU students emerge champions at All India Inter-University Shooting Tournament
By Akhil Goswami
Ramjas College recently hosted their Annual Athletic Meet, an intra-college sports event organised by the Sports Department of Ramjas from the 11th to 13th of February. The college football ground, which was the venue for the various athletic events, witnessed a great reception on its inaugural day as high levels of energy and enthusiasm seemed to grip the college by its loud and exciting atmosphere.
The Athletic Meet played host to several different categories of competitive events on its first day. In the category of 100 m (Men’s) Sprint races, Praveen, a second year B.A. Program student stood first. The Women’s category for the same resulted in Aruna Chaudhary, another second year B.A. Program student, earning herself a hard earned win. First Year students, Pallav and Divyani from Physics department aced their respective groups of the 400 m race. In Long Jump (Women’s), Sheetal, a second year Economics student won herself the first prize while Mutum Yang Thauba (English student, Third Year) won the same medal from the Men’s division. Finally, Yajneer (B.A.P, Second Year) and Kavita (Physics student, First Year) won the first prize in Shot Put Men’s and Women’s division respectively.
The games and activities of the second day of the meet took place with a more casual and less competitive attitude. Events such as Matka race, Tortoise race, Banana race, among many others, were organised in order to get a larger number of participations. Thus, these fun and light events received a good reception, as it not only invited participations from students, but also drew quite a few members of the college staff.
The final day of the meet witnessed a group of events which were reserved for visually challenged students. This day of the meet, known as ‘Specially Abled Athletics Meet’ included sporting events such as Tug of War, Sack Race, Fun Race and so on. The day finally concluded with a Volleyball match between the students and staff members, with a substantial number of people coming to watch the clash between the two sides.
The three day Sports Meet seemed to be reaching out to a wider audience this year, with attractive posters and banners noticeably helping their cause. Dr. M. Chakravorty, Sports Head of Ramjas College, credits these additional participations to the introduction of a new directive where students are awarded credit marks for participations in such events. Further elaborating on the overwhelming response this year, she said “Our motto is mass participation, and I feel very pleased and satisfied to see that we have been able to encourage sports on such a great scale this year. We hope to continue achieving greater success in the coming years.”
The annual sports fest of Shri Ram College of Commerce, the Festival of Youth Sport (FOYS) reached its culmination on the 7th of February as 10 different categories of sporting events reached their final stage. A busy last day, SRCC’s field and their sports complex continued to be the hub of activity, with different sports and games being simultaneously played one after the other.
The elaborate event, which boasted of 10 diverse and popular sporting competitions, involved matches which apart from being competitive, also kept the audiences enthralled. The final results saw a few new champions being crowned, while several competitors managed to retain their number one spot. In the outdoor sports category, the hosts-SRCC won the tournaments in Football, Baseball and Ball Badminton (Men’s). Shyamlal Anand College emerged triumphant as the tournament winners in Hockey, while the Ball Badminton (Women’s) category was won by Maitreyi College. In athletics, Sri Venkateswara College won in discuss throw, Daulat Ram College in Shot-put, and S.G.T.B. Khalsa in Long jump. S.G.T.B. Khalsa, also won the 100m race among boys, whereas this race for the women’s category went to Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
![WP_20140207_026[1]](https://dubeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WP_20140207_0261-1024x575.jpg)
In the category of Indoor Sports, a pulsating Basketball final (Men’s) between Kirori Mal College and Shri Ram College of Commerce ended in the latter being crowned champions. The basketball tournament for the women’s group ended in a win for St. Stephen’s College, with the Stephen’s girls picking up a much deserved win. In Chess, the hosts (SRCC) managed a win whereas the finals of Carom resulted in Zakir Hussain College emerging victorious. S.G.T.B. Khalsa College picked up yet another win, this time in Badminton (Boys) with the Khalsa boys beating the home team in the finals. Last but not least, SRCC won the tournament in the group of Table Tennis (Boys), whereas Lady Shri Ram College won the same in the Girls category.
The sports festival, throughout its 4 day-course maintained a sporty ambience within the college, contributing to a general activity and buzz throughout the complex. This, apart from adding to the players energy levels, generated an atmosphere which was probably one of the main attractions of the fest.
Whether it is through the eyes of a random onlooker or a sports enthusiast, FOYS seems to be growing in power as well as in stature with each passing year. A sports summit well worthy of the hype, the amount of effort put into the festival was commendable to say the least. The event seems to have made a conscious attempt towards uniting sports fans from different parts of Delhi University.
The Festival of Youth Sport 2014, organised by the Sports Committee of Shri Ram College of Commerce, received a warm reception on its opening day as they welcomed a former Olympic medalist, Mr Vijender Beniwal Singh as Chief Guest for the opening ceremony held on 4th February. He was accompanied by another distinguished sportsperson, Shri Bhanu Sachdeva, a renowned swimmer and an SRCC alumnus.
The opening ceremony of the event, which started at 1 pm, saw the principal of SRCC, Mr P.C. Jain and the head of the Physical Education Department, Mrs. Kuljeet Kaur, welcome the chief guests, expressing their gratitude and appreciation in their speeches, followed by an orderly procession of the oath ceremony wherein 41 colleges from across the nation pledged towards upholding the spirit and values of the game. Subsequently, the chief guests addressed the SRCC crowd, talking about the need to encourage sports in India as well as emphasising on the importance of sports in our everyday lives. This final speech was followed by a host of cultural performances, including dance shows from National Cadet Corps, Deshbandhu College, ILLAS, as well as by SRCC’s very own western-dance society.
Following their traditional way of inaugurations, the chief guests for the event, Mr. Vijender Singh and Mr. Sachdeva were encouraged to basket a throw in order to formally commence a start to the Sports fest of 2014.
The only exclusive sports festival in all of Delhi Univerity, the annual event seems to be gaining considerable momentum as well as attention in recent years. This year, apart from hosting 10 different sports, the event also boasts of a flagship event, a Mini Marathon being organized on the 5th of February, 6 am onwards.
The 30th of January marked a special day for SRCC’s football team, as the boys in red proved to be just too good for Sri Venkateswara College, recording a comfortable win of 3-1 in the finals of the 7th Akshay Chhibber Memorial Soccer Tournament. The venue, St. Stephen’s football ground saw a largely SRCC dominated crowd, with a considerable number of people showing up for the clash between the two sides.
The match, while being heavily cheered on by enthusiastic supporters off the field, did not seem to correspond on the field, as the game in the opening stages turned out to be rather dull and uninspiring. However, SRCC soon found their feet as displays of some promising link-up play, intricate one-two-one passing, and several decent attempts on goal saw them take a deserved lead from a corner as the game approached the half-hour mark. The goal came from SRCC’s centre-back Deepak, who took advantage of a misguided clearance by a late-reacting Venky defence, scoring from within 6 yards of goal. That goal saw a marked increase in the tempo of the game, with a positive response from Sri Venkateswara College as they made a more attack-minded approach to the game. Despite some solid defending by the north campus college, an alleged push on a Venkateswara striker saw the team concede from a penalty spot in the few remaining minutes of first half.
![WP_20140130_010[1]](https://dubeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WP_20140130_0101-1024x575.jpg)
The second half witnessed another bright start for the boys from SRCC. They managed to score again, this time through their skipper, Digvijay Bahadur Singh, who scored a goal from a corner kick, with the ball dipping and curving directly in the back of the net. Arguably, the most crucial point in the game came when Deepak from Sri Venkateswara College scuffed a shot wide from a distance of 12-some-yards. It was this relatively more clinical and lethal SRCC side which finally managed to seal the game with another goal from a cross, effortlessly met by Tsheygal on the receiver’s end. The game took a more rash and abrasive turn just in the dying minutes, as a fight erupted between the two set of players leading to two red cards being shown-one from each team. A match with its share of goals as well as drama, it proved to be an entertaining watch for the supporters as well as the neutrals.
The Chief Guest for the final match, Dr. Ajay Chhibber congratulated the winning team and presented them with the winning trophy along with a cash reward of Rs. 28,000. Talking about increasing the magnitude of this tournament, he revealed plans of integrating a total of 16 teams in the tournament in the years to follow. The captain of the winning team, Digvijay Singh, while talking about his team’s performance, applauded his side’s ‘Never-Say-Die’ attitude and also reflected on their team’s ‘winning mentality’ as being vital to their team success.
The first major DU football tournament of 2014 started on 23rd January, the inaugural day of the 7th Akshay Chhibber Memorial Soccer Tournament. St. Stephen’s witnessed a thrilling start to the competition as the hosts defeated their long term rivals Hindu by 1-0. The second match of the day also encountered another similar 1-0 defeat with Sri Venkateswara College managing to scrape a win against the boys from Zakir Hussain.
Preceding kick-off, the chief guest for the event, Revd. Dr. Valson Thampu (Principal, St. Stephen’s College), spoke a few words on upholding the spirit of the game and gave his best wishes to the teams participating.
The inaugural match, St. Stephen’s v/s Hindu has always traditionally been a match of some importance. Supporters from both colleges seemed to be present in plenty, with the energy and the passionate chanting of the fans adding an extra flavour to the game. The only goal of the match, a stunning half-volley from about 25 yards out was scored within the first ten minutes of play by Piyush Khattar. The match also saw a Stephen’s goal disallowed as the assistant referee raised the flag for a foul on the Hindu goalkeeper. Apart from this, another controversial point in the match was a penalty appeal from the Hindu players which was also not given. However, despite what the score line may suggest, Stephen’s were clearly dominant, keeping possession for long spells with a natural rhythmic fluency in their style of passing. The Hindu team, despite having a sturdy defence overall, did not seem to be comfortable with the ball in the opposition half, giving away the ball rather cheaply at times.
This match was followed by another intense battle, with the clear favourites of the tournament, Sri Venkateswara College taking on Zakir Hussain. A fine display of attack and counter attack, Sri Venkateswara finally managed to scrape out a 1-0 victory after a fiercely competitive performance put in from both the sides. The goal finally came from a penalty in the second half with Sachin Kohli calmly converting from the spot to give his team a lead. Despite all the chances created by both sides, the football in the attacking-third of the park was not as impressive as the play in midfield and defence, with both attackers missing clear cut goal-scoring chances. On the whole, an entertaining for the neutrals.
With recognizable football teams such as SRCC, Kirori Mal, Ramjas and Hansraj still raring to go, this tournament only promises to get more competitive and exciting as eliminations start to kick in. A prelude to the Inter-College tournament, the Akshay Chhibber Memorial Soccer Tournament gives us a glimpse of what Delhi University football teams have to offer. Whether it is seen as a wakeup call by some teams, or an opportunity to make a statement by others, what is clear is the fact that the battle for DU footballing hegemony seems to be already up and running!