Palaestra 2009 – Battle To Glory
In these times where ‘academics’ form a major perspective in any professional college’s prospectus, the role of sports and games in a student’s life has become even more important as it takes him/her to a different level of mental toughness, endurance and most importantly, it gives him/her a ‘fresh change’. In most of the professional colleges, over the recent years, games and sports have been considered as ‘extra-curricular activities’ even though they rightfully form an integral component of the regular curriculum. At Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology (BIET), similar ‘fresh changes’ like the one aforementioned, were quite evidently observed. For the first time in the history of the college, a sports-fest named Palaestra-2009 had been organized. In a college where education has always been the first preference since it’s inception in 2001, a sports-fest of this magnitude was literally undreamt of.
The infrastructure of BIET, being one of the best, has 20 acres of area solely allotted for the outdoor games. With so many facilities waiting to be used, nobody had even a glare of doubt about the happening of the fest except the management. Harsha, a student coordinator of the fest says, “When we proposed the idea of conducting an event as big as this to the management of the college, they initially laughed it away!” He further adds, “But, when we showed them how serious we were about this event, the management gave us the green signal to go ahead and conduct it.”
Players in the right spirit! Credits:Painless Predator
Palaestra, in Greek, means the ’school of competent sports’, where the gladiators of those times used to fight their skins out by ‘Battling for the ultimate glory’ and it was exactly what the event symbolized for in every sense.
The master minds behind making this event successful were the senior students of the 3rd and 4th years who took charge of the complete fest and coordinated excellently among themselves. This event was scheduled to be held for 5 days. It was held between 20th -24th of October. The number of colleges that participated in Palaestra-2009 were around 45 which hailed from different parts of the state. Totally, there were 8 events conducted in Palaestra-2009, comprising of Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Basketball and Throwball under the outdoor games category & Table-Tennis, Carroms and Chess under the indoor games category. Surjeet Roy, the head coordinator of this event says, “There were around 20 sponsors for this event which was truly amazing for the start we were looking for.” He further adds, “The best and the most distinct feature of the event was the new concept of the ‘Overall Championship Trophy’ sponsored by Vidyouth. This is rarely found in sports events conducted in several colleges, so we are indeed very proud for we have set a new trend!”
The first day of the sports-fest saw a formal ‘Opening Ceremony’ where the Dean of the college, Brigadier A.K. Sharma declared Palaestra-2009, ’open‘. Soon after the opening ceremony, the first round of all the sports begun simultaneously in all the corners of the campus. There were separate desks arranged for the announcement and the registration so that the students of other colleges wouldn’t find it difficult to fulfill the formalities of registration. Sourav from St. Mary’s says, “Though the students of BIET were conducting such high-scaled sports-fest for the first time, the hospitality and the arrangements here were highly professional and worth appreciating.”
The 2nd, 3rd and the 4th days of Palaestra, 2009 saw the tournament reaching its final leg as the quarter-finals and the semi-finals were played. Rohit, a student of BIET says, “I still cannot absorb that something like this is taking place in my college.” He further adds, “It’s definitely the beginning of a new era in BIET. Talk about dedication and competitive spirit, there will be no better example than this! Students of certain colleges even missed out on their internal exams in order to participate in Palaestra, 2009. This, quite evidently highlights the intensity with which the tournament was conducted through out!
The final day of Palaestra saw more anxious and excited faces than ever before. Brains started thinking 1o folds to device different strategies on how to pull the opponent down and hearts started beating faster than ever, awaiting the desired and expected result to come true. This D-day witnessed all the sports culminating into a nail biting series of finals, which all the students were curiously hooked to.
All eyes were especially focussed on Cricket, Football, Basketball, Throwball and Carroms as BIET had reached the finals in the above listed sports respectively. The results were however shocking, nevertheless, the home team of BIET was forced to be content in being Runners-up for most of the games.
The results, along with the Winners and Runners up in each game, are listed below:
The Overall Championship 'VidYouth Trophy' Credits:Painless Predator
1. Cricket
Winners- Sri Indu Engineering College
Runners- BIET
2. Football
Winners- Sreenidhi Institute Of Science and Technology
Runners- BIET
3. Basketball
Winners- Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology
Runners- BIET
4. Volleyball
Winners- Malla Reddy Engineering College
Runners- Narsimha Reddy
5. Throw Ball
Winners- G. Narayanamma Institute of Technological Sciences
Runners:- BIET
6. Table-Tennis
Winners- Teegala Krishna Reddy Engineering College
Runners- BIET
7. Carrom Board
Winners- BIET
Runners- Guru Nanak Engineering College
8. Chess
Winners- St. Mary’s Engineering College
Runners- Guru Nanak Engineering College
Unfortunately, the valedictory function which was to be held on the closing day got postponed as the chief guest of the event, Mr.Prabhakar Reddy, DIG of Cyberabad Police, was unable to attend the function due to unavoidable reasons ( they say).
In the end, Palaestra 2009,was a grand success. The Principal of BIET, Mr. Padmanabhan says, “Although the students did a wonderful job in getting the fest organized so efficiently, the fest was a bit gloomy as it is the exam time.” He further adds, “I congratulate all the students who have put in their blood, sweat and soul in getting such a great name for the event and most importantly, for the college.”
With such adulation from all the sides, the students of BIET are geared up to conduct another event better than Palaestra-2009, the next year.
