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.”
Delhi University Stiudents Union (DUSU) organised a university wide marathon in North Campus, as a part of ABVP’s endeavor to create political awareness among university students. Organised every year since 2009 (barring 2012 and 2013- when ABVP wasn’t in power), the central theme of the marathon was Initiative 272: securing 272 seats for Mr. Narendra Modi in the fast approaching elections.
Among the Chief Guests were Mr. Suresh Thakur, owner and CEO of the media house- Aapka Faisla, Mr. Umesh Dutt, National General Secretary, ABVP and Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Assistant Professor, Aurobindo College.
Organized by Raju Rawat (DUSU Treasurer), Dharmedre (Dhamu) and Avadh Nagpal, the marathon managed to get thousands of students out on the streets to support ABVP. The marathon started from Law Faculty, North Campus and circumferenced the entire campus region. Tens of policemen patrolled the region to make sure that the event progresses smoothly. The turnout was huge and the event took place in a highly orderly manner.
Avadh Nagpal, one of the main organisers of the event, had the following to say, ‘We faced a lot of problems. Some of our important sponsors backed out last minute. A lot of preparations were in jeopardy because of that. But we somehpw had to pull it off. We aimed to bring together 25,000 students and we managed around 11,000. So extremely satisfied.”
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.
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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.
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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 final of the first Grand Slam of the year was set between the crowd-favourite and the top-seed, Rafael Nadal and the eighth seed, Stanislas Wawrinka.
The match started with blistering pace amidst the Australian twilight and a packed Rod Laver Arena. Both the players started the match strongly with the Swiss serving the first game. The match came alight in the fourth game of the set when Wawrinka break Nadal’s serve to take an early 3-1 lead. He then saved three break points to ultimately serve out the set for a 6-3 score.
The crowd was in for more shocking events when the 8th seed broke Nadal in the first game of the second set. He then held his serve to take an early lead of 2-0 over the Spaniard. While playing a shot from the baseline, Nadal let out in pain in the next game. He held his serve but quickly went away for a medical time-out, while Wawrinka argued with the ref for complete disclosure of the injury. Nadal came out after six minutes but only for his fans to see his performance drop. The Spaniard lost the second set 6-2.
However, Nadal was not going out without a fight. He broke the Swiss’s serve in the second game of the match to win the third set 6-3.
The top seed started the fourth set much strongly. While Nadal’s fans were praying for a comeback, the Swiss broke the Spaniard’s serve in the sixth game of the set to take a 4-2 lead. After that, it was all Wawrinka as he held his nerves to go on to win the Australian Open 2014.
He was the first man since 1993 to beat the world no.1 & 2 in a Grand Slam and also, the first man ever to beat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam.
Image Credit: Official Australian Open Facebook Page
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!
Sir Alex has finally retired, with his hand-picked successor clearly struggling to win not just matches, but also the backing of the supporters. Yes, a crisis has struck the red part of Manchester, one which seems to have shook glory hunters all over the world. We all knew it was going to be tough replacing Sir Alex, but no one could have anticipated such a dramatic fall for our defending champs. Having recorded their worst ever league start since the inception of the BPL, David Moyes seems to be clearly struggling to muster any kind of momentum in his team. So, what exactly seems to be the problem? Well, here are some factors on what seems to be missing and what’s clearly not clicking!
Struggling with Stability
The transition to any new manager, to new tactics and diverse styles of play is bound to bring about a certain period of instability, and the introduction of David Moyes was no different. Bringing his own backroom staff along with him, he let go of the successful combination of Rene Meulensteen, Mike Phelan and Eric Steele who knew the Red devil’s squad inside out. This in particular might not have been the smartest of moves as United are still struggling to find any kind of rhythm and flow in their approach to the game.
Under-performing players
It is fascinating how a squad so DEADLY last year can be just so plain DEAD this year! Lacking creativity and aspiration, Manchester United in general have not played with the same vigour and intensity as they had played during the Fergie-era. Trying several combinations and arrangements, Moyes is still yet to find the perfect balance which plays football to United’s strengths. Fergie’s brilliance in tactics which brought out the best in players like Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Luis Nani, Patrice Evra, Ashley Young, Shinji Kagawa etc. among many others has not yet been replicated by his successor. An unstable defence, a dull midfield and a lacklustre attack has far from impressed the fans with some serious questions regarding their future credibility.
Transfer-less window
Failed efforts to sign Fabregas, Herrera or Alacantara ensured a gaping hole in midfield left by the retirement of veteran midfielder Paul Scholes. The one main signing made by Moyes, that of Maroune Fellaini has also has not yet proved his worth to his new club. While it is undeniable that Man Utd requires some new faces to instil confidence and freshness in the team, heavy dependence on Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj to provide for the attacking threat is also not a viable option for the long term.
Well, is this the end of the United-era or is this the beginning of a new phase of dominance? One thing that’s for sure is that this is definitely going to be the toughest test for Manchester United. I guess we’ll just have to wait for a few seasons to find out what United are really made out of!
Akhil Goswami
Students of Hindu college were in for a surprise this semester as the college promised to reveal a much better equipped and immensely improved sports complex.What had once been a land of overgrown grass and bits of barren land is now regaining its elegance as the college puts in all efforts to build up a complex that fulfills its students’ expectations.
Although entrance into the complex is restricted for now, a basketball court and football field with lush green grass already built to perfection is visible and we can also expect a volleyball court up and ready in some time to increase the variety of sports offered. Adding to the delight our little birdy says it might not be a disappointment to watch out for a cricket pitch. The sport enthusiasts of Hindu will finally have a complex they can call their own and a reason to sweat it out with the new gym.
Although no specific date for the completion of this project has been revealed yet, we did find out that it’s more sooner than later that Hinduites will have a new reason to brag and the new sports complex will become the much awaited gem of the college.
We wish Hindu all the best for this project and hope from the bottom of our heart that it doesn’t reach the same end as the last sports complex did and with the new management and the attempts made by them to keep the complex clean it won’t be wrong to presume that this time the story will be different.