September 25, 2009
Coimbatore Campus
School students from all over Southern India recently converged on Amrita’s Coimbatore campus* for the CBSE South-Zone Swimming Competition.
Around 450 boys and girls from 91 schools in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Andhra Pradesh participated in the under-12, under-14, under-16 age group categories.
The star of the competition was Tamil Nadu’s Golden Fish S. Dharsihini, a student of Amrita Vidyalayam, Chennai, who bagged the gold medal in all three events she swam in.
Completing the 800 meter free style in just 10 minutes 28.97 seconds, she bettered the previous national record. She took 2 minutes 46.50 seconds to complete the 200 meter medley and 2 minutes 43.90 seconds for the 200 meter butterfly.
The organization of the competition was widely praised by school officials, including K. Sivaprasad from Vidyodaya School in Kochi.
“The event was smooth clear and time bound,” he said. “No confusion. The overall management was excellent. I appreciate the canteen and the accommodation facilities. The officials were very pleasant and the system was very efficient.”
The event was opened after the formal lighting ceremony, followed by prayer and the audience was given a warm welcome by Mrs. Mina Shankaranarayanan of Amrita Vidyalayam, Chennai.
In the Presidential Address delivered by Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya, the Pro Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and the Correspondent of Amrita Vidyalayams, Tamil Nadu, children were motivated to accept failure as a guideline for winning.
Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya urged the children not to have qualities that would pull them down in life.
Smt. Mary Rajathi, the General Manager of Sports Authority of Tamil Nadu, was the Chief Guest of the day. She advised children on how they can develop mental abilities through sports and games.
Her talk was followed by Sri. Krishnan, M.D. of Sri Krishna Sweets, who said that the success of an individual is because of the team that is behind them.
It seems S. Dharshini has a great team behind her, with many well wishers expecting to see the star swimmer represent her country at a future Olympic Games.
Amrita’s Coimbatore campus, with its Olympic-size swimming pool, was requested to host the 2009-2010 CBSE South-Zone Swimming Competition. The campus has hosted inter-school competitions for Amrita Vidyalayams, but this is the first time that a national-level competition was organized at this Amrita campus.
