March 16, 2009
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
It started with volleyball. Teams from the different Amrita campuses traveled to Amritapuri in January to take part in the 2nd inter-campus volleyball tournament. Matches were played under floodlights and saw great audience turnout. The boys’ and girls’ championships were won by Coimbatore and Bangalore respectively.
A few weeks later, teams from all campuses met again, this time in Coimbatore, for the ball badminton intercampus tournament. Ball badminton is a unique sport, it can be said to be a cross between tennis and badminton. A woolen ball is used; the game is played only in India.
Next was the inter-campus football tournament hosted at Amritapuri; the team from Coimbatore won for the 3rd time in a row. Soon after, Bangalore hosted the basketball inter-campus matches, both girls and boys; and the winners in both were the teams from Bangalore. The runners-up were the Kochi boys’ and the Amritapuri girls’ teams.
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Most recently, the Kochi campus hosted the 3rd inter-campus table-tennis tournament. Games were played in the Davis Cup model where all campuses had 3 singles and 2 doubles matches. The boys’ title was won by Amritapuri and the girls’ title by Bangalore. The participants also participated in the Kochi campus sports day inauguration.
Campus sports days have already been conducted in the Amritapuri and Coimbatore campuses. Towards the end of this month, they will be held at the Bangalore and Mysore campuses also. “This is the third year inter-campus tournaments are being conducted in Amrita,” said Mr. Krishnakumar, Physical Director at the Amritapuri campus. “Next year, an inter-campus athletics meet is also being planned.”
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“Sports events, especially team sports, have a role to play in the overall character-building of a youngster,” stated Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya, the Pro-Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. “At Amrita, we give a lot of importance to sports; this is an integral part of the value-based education we have come to be known for. Students play in a spirit of healthy competition, they learn to compete and cooperate at the same time.”
“I accompanied the Amritapuri team to Kochi for the recently concluded table-tennis tournament,” shared Mr. Krishnakumar. “Students of the Kochi health-care campus turned up in great numbers to watch and they cheered equally for all teams. They clapped and supported whoever was playing well, not just the Kochi players alone. This provided a lot of encouragement to the players.”
As previously reported also, players on opponent teams have actually clapped and cheered for each others’ victories. The last intercampus tournaments for this academic year will be played during April 4-6 in Coimbatore. Teams from other campuses will meet once again for cricket and shuttle badminton. We wish all the players the very best!
