Sports Quest 2011

Date : 19-06-2011

Venue : ITA, Machkhowa, Guwahati

Quizmasters : Suvam Pal and Boria Mazumdar

Eligibility : Open

Winners :

1st : Kinshuk and Soubhadra ( Kolkata )

2nd : Anil and Ramkey ( Chennai )

3rd : Deepanjan and Somnath ( Guwahati / Kolkata )

Review ( by Daktar Vinay )

PRELIMS 

Organising an event of such a magnitude, with around 140 teams participating, and that too smoothly is no mean feat. On that count, the organisers - the Regional Trendsetters Society - did a really great job. The prelims proper started around 2.45 PM with Mr Pal taking the stage. There were twenty five dry questions and five visual slides. The questions covered a wide variety of subject matter - ranging from Golf to Lawn tennis to Weightlifting to cycling and Pato. Questions were simple, workable and covered basic aspects of the various sports.

THE FINALS 

What a final it was ! Questions and answeres flew thick and fast between the QMs and the teams with the senior pros from Kolkata and the team from Chennai taking some early lead. The quiz master to take the stage was the legendary Boria Mazumdar - sports journalist and author. Impeccable English, in-depth analysis and knowledge and non-nonsense quizzing were his hallmarks. And when you have a Rhodes scholar on cricket giving you facts like Calcutta Cricket Club is older thatn MCC; you just sit up, listen and digest the facts. And maybe say wow ! And of course there were anecdotes to follow - from the lives of the sport stars we have grown up seeing on the big screen and idolising, their personal experiences relayed to us, and an insight into their temperament and dedication to the sport.

The other part of the show was by Mr Pal ( the two switching after every two rounds ). The questions were brilliant as usual, covering a wide spectrum of sports. According to Mr Pal, he covered nearly 45 sports in the quiz of ten rounds ( scheduled -- only eight took place due to paucity of time) and thats a huge achievement in itself. People going there hoping to see a cricket-football quiz must have been really surprised with sports like sepak takraw, handball, steeplechase, paragliding etc being mentioned !

THE TIE-BREAKER 

The quiz reached its crescendo in the final round with Soubhadra and Kinshuk clear winners and teams of Deepanjan and Somnath tied with Anil and Ramkey for 2nd place. So a second tie-braker came into play in the quiz. It was sudden death. Question after question failed to seperate the two teams. However, the last question seemed to swing the show Chennai's way, as Ramkey and Anil wrote down Janwardan Navle, name of India's wicketkeeper in India's first tour of England. You couldnt have asked for a better finish.

FLIPSIDE 

On the flipside, the quiz was a dry affair. Nowhere was there any single slide, audio or video question. It was only to be expected that an event of such a magnitude, while covering all aspects wouldnot fail in this one, but it did.