The 51st Inter IIT Sports Meet Is Here !!

With the inter IIT aquatics meet kicking off on Saturday, the question on everybody’s mind is “Will the IIT Kanpur contingent be able to repeat history by winning the aquatics meet, as it did back in 2009, when it last hosted it”

The first part of the 51st inter IIT sports meet starts tomorrow with the opening ceremony of the aquatics meet. The 32nd aquatics meet marks the start of the campaign of the eleven participating IITs to lift the General Championship trophy. 135 participants from the 11 participating IITs will compete in events of swimming and water polo in the aquatics meet. After a span of 7 years, the inter IIT meet is again being hosted by IIT Kanpur. The IIT Kanpur contingent would want to continue its legacy by lifting the GC trophy for the third consecutive time, this time on its home ground.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to start tomorrow at 3:30 pm at the swimming pool. The chief guest of the aquatics meet are Padma Shri awardee, Ms. Bula Chowdhury. She is a national swimming champion and the first woman to have swum across sea channels off five continents. She has represented India in the world championship and the Asian games. She has also been felicitated with the Arjuna award and the Tenzing Norgay Lifetime Achievement award.

Other guests of honour are Mr. NK Pandey, Dr. Kripal Singh, and Miss Trishla Singh. Mr. NK Pandey was one of the first physical education officers of IIT Kanpur who led the establishment of the swimming pool here. Dr. Kripal Singh was one of the sports officers of IIT-Kanpur. Ms. Trishla Singh, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, is a national level diver and was adjudged the best swimmer in two Inter IIT Aquatics meets.

The opening ceremony will be addressed by Dr. Indranil Manna, the patron, Dr. A.R. Harish, the chairman and Dr. NR Patra, the convenor of the organizing committee. The organizing team of inter IIT has also planned a professional diving show to be conducted during the opening ceremony during which renowned divers of India will showcase their dazzling skills.

The events will be conducted in two slots everyday, from 2nd to 5th October. The morning slot will start at 7:30 am and the evening slot at 3pm. Heats will be conducted in the morning slot and the final for those events will be conducted in the evening slot of the same day.

In water polo, IIT Kanpur is placed in group A along with IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi. The top 2 amongst these three will qualify for the semifinals. IIT Kanpur faces a tough challenge to top the group stage as it is placed in the same pool along with last year’s champions IIT KGP.

The matched to look out for are summarised in the table. The pool matches of IIT Kanpur against IIT Delhi and Kharagpur are likely to be spectacles to watch.

The organizing team of inter IIT released the official mascot – the Kanpuriya kid ‘Bauaa’ earlier this week. Our innocent, enthusiastic and cheerful ‘Bauaa’, who is a Panda, will be there to cheer, motivate and boost the spirits of participants across all contingents.

The Directors’ dinner, also known as gala dinner, will be held in the evening on the 4th of October. This is the time when the participants will finally be able to relax and celebrate after the months of hard work they had put in for the aquatics meet. It will be held in the newly constructed Hall of Residence 12. This dinner will be attended by the participants, Sports and Physical Education Committee (SPEC) members, officials, other guests and the members of the organising committee.

The award ceremony will be held on the final evening. Individual winners and the best overall  swimmers will be felicitated. The host of the 52nd inter IIT sports meet will also be announced during the ceremony.

Vox Populi wishes the each participant the best of luck and may the best man win !!

Written by Harshit Bhalla and Akshay Mehta