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Sangram 2012

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Scene before 22nd September…

September 22nd was the much awaited day for the entire student community in general and the Sports Council in specific as the IIMB campus was getting ready to host one of India’s most famous Sports rivalries – Sangram 2012. This sporting league would comprise of the elite sports teams from the three premier institutions of higher education in Southern India – IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode and IIM Trichy. 

Since its inception in the year 2004, the intensity of Sangram has been unmatched, and the euphoria unparalleled. Each campus plays host every alternate year and gives an opportunity to students from the other campuses to establish their superiority. The rival teams get involved in fiery but friendly encounters through a variety of indoor and outdoor games like volleyball, throwball, football, cricket, tennis, table tennis, chess, carom etc. This year our national game, hockey and India’s traditional game Kho-Kho were added to the sports extravaganza. With the pride and honour of their alma mater at stake, the captains and players go through a rigorous training schedule balancing it with the highly demanding academic schedule at the Indian Institutes of Management.

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“Inter-IIM meets are unique in the aspect that they provide us a chance to interact, and compete with other IIMs and build strong networking relations via the medium of sports. IIM Bangalore has proved its sporting supremacy by comprehensively winning Sangram last year. To make the event bigger, this year we have decided to include IIM Trichy.”- Ravi Kumar Yadav, Sports Secretary, IIM B.

The 7th edition of Sangram will be a trend-setter in a number of ways. For the first time in the history of Sangram, there will be 20 sporting events instead of the usual 16. For three days, from September 22-24th, the IIM B campus will take a break from the hectic IIM life, and witness the defending champion of Sangram 2011 display their might in their home-ground. It was also a chance for IIMK and IIMT to take the trophy home.

Browsing through each game…

GOLD IN SANGRAM FUELS A HOCKEY CULTURE @IIM-B

Hockey might not be given much importance at the national level, but that is not the case here at IIM-B.  The passion for hockey that had been lingering in everyone who had played hockey at least once in their lifetime, brought all the hockey enthusiasts together for three weeks of intensive 10pm practice sessions in spite of the hectic academic schedule. For the first time in Sangram 2012, hockey found its rightful place and in its inaugural version, IIM-B came out on top. And it did that in style, scoring a total of 11 eleven goals and conceding none.

While most of the players got a chance to score, Moromjyote Sonowal emerged to be the highest goal scorer. Abhishek Agarwal did a commendable job in the midfield and strikers Samidh, Arun, Pravin and Siddhartha wowed the crowd with their stickwork. If it was Rahul Dravid for the Indian Cricket team, it was Kanad Shaurya for the IIM-B hockey team, a true wall guarding the goalpost. The Captain, Dwiti Pradhan stuck to an attacking strategy, rotating players to keep them fresh and hungry.

The smaller the size of the court, the greater the excitement and this was very true in all the matches played.  The teams from IIM-T and IIM-K also put in their best effort and upheld the spirit of the game. Post match sessions provided an informal networking opportunity for the teams to share their experience and discuss ways to make hockey a regular event in all subsequent meets.

At a broader level, the successful event has ignited a great passion among the sporting community at IIM-B. With 15 players in the ranks and more coming forward to try out the national game, a culture of hockey is fast evolving on campus. The team plans to keep practising with the same intensity and focus. All attempts are being made to organize play-offs against local colleges to keep the competition alive. All eyes are set on building on the start to conquer the next level of inter IIM contest at Sangharsh 2012.

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KHO KHO (Girls)

 Sangram, the inter IIM Meet saw for the first time the traditional game of Kho-Kho. A novelty at the Sports meet, this sport was enjoyed by one and all. The fast paced game of Kho-Kho commands agility, stamina, strategy and skill. The girl’s match of Kho-Kho was a true testament to it. The IIMB vs. IIMT match witnessed spectacular performance by the home team. IIMB won the match by an innings. The runners gave quite a hard time to the IIMT team, with only 1 runner being caught in each quarter. While chasing, the IIMB team caught a little less than half of their runners (4 of 9) in a single quarter.

This innings victory over IIMT further bolstered the high spirits of the IIMB girls’ team. The match between IIMT and IIMK was won by the latter with a comfortable margin. It was now time for the battle between IIMB and IIMK for the gold. Each team looked forward to taking the trophy home.

Till this time IIMB Boys Kho Kho team lost their match in gruelling encounter against IIMK after displaying one of the most fighting comebacks ever. IIMB girls promised to bring gold and they were up against a strong team of IIM K.

The toss was won by IIMB who were all geared up for what promised to be a gruelling match. The IIMB team wowed the crowd with an exceptional game with only 2 of their runners being out. However IIMK was not to be left behind. In an equally adrenaline racing quarter, IIMK too ceded only 2. The final innings has everybody hooked on. IIMB gave yet another phenomenal quarter. Playing with a never say die attitude, the team put up a hard task ahead for the opponents. However this was only to be matched by IIMK in the last quarter. Instead of the mind blowing show put up by the their star player Febin Sagir by not getting out in the entire tournament, the last match ended with a draw since both teams ceded only 2 players in both the quarters. However this spectacular match of endurance and skill was a treat for every sports lover. The IIMB girls’ team kept their promise by bringing one more gold to the IIMB’s kitty. Kudos to the team that got together in only the last week of Sangram; provided an astonishing show when it mattered.

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KHO KHO (Boys)

Out of all the games both boys and girls’ category, this show had the unmatched highest intensity as all the three teams were equally competent to win the gold in Kho Kho (Boys). A high current show put up by IIMK and IIMT in the first game, which IIMK won in the thrilling climax, has warned IIMB to gear up well enough before facing any of the other teams. IIMK defeated IIMT by 1 point. IIMB lost by one point in the match with IIMT.

However, the true battle was in the final when IIMK wanted to establish its supremacy over other two teams, while IIMB didn’t want to disappoint home crowd. The first innings was greatly over performed by IIMK, when they took a lead of 3 points. Manoj Meena from IIMK was star of the first innings and remained not out. However, the second innings was complete change to what the crowd had seen till then. IIMB had to score 9 points to win the game, which took most of the audience to disappointment. Nevertheless, a never say die attitude, a high energy and crave for winning was passing through the nerves of each player of IIMB, which took them to a situation where they had to score just 1 point in last 30 seconds, after scoring 8 points needed.

Crowd saw the truly high intensity game then. The team not only got Meena out but also scored 5 points in last two minutes by showing ultimate fast game which IIMK has no answer to. The players played remarkably well and crowd was all on their feet supporting the home team. Though, they made a player out in those last 30 seconds, it was overrun by a foul and hence lost the game by 1 point again. However, IIMB truly deserved an applause and the crowd knew it for putting up a great fight and for never giving up at any moment though they had to score 9 points (team all out) against strong opponent at one moment. This match remained as the closest encounter of all the matches in Sangram 2012.

Special mention goes to Nikhil Sabnis who almost carried out IIMB’s innings without getting out. Raghava threw some fun bits in the game one time by tiring the players of IIMK by his unparalleled competences, and at other time by his slap-moment which IIMB crowd enjoyed the most. IIMB may have lost the game but it was the spirit and fantastic display that gave crowd their money’s worth. A great credit should go to captain Amit Kumar for being able to put this Lagaan team together within a very short time of a week.

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THROWBALL

 “IIM-B wins its’ first Gold at Sangram’12 (inter-IIM sports meet) in Throwball”…Wow!!! After an exhilarating win, this was all we had ears for. The joy was unspeakable, so all we could do was shout, whistle and make as much noise as possible that could’ve probably woken up all the sleepy heads in A & C Blocks. Now as we sit back and think of all the matches we played, trying to decode the reason for our win against a visibly strong team, the one thing that jumps to notice is the fact that none of us played as individuals seeking glory but as a team sharing the fun of playing a good game!!!

If we have to attribute our clean-sweep win over IIM-T and IIM-K to anything, then it would be our team’s co-ordination which grew strong with every practice session we had, our service-which each player worked very hard upon and the support we had from sports council and the audience on the day of the match. 

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A part of this win is dedicated to all those guys who helped us in our practice. Without them, we wouldn’t have turned out to be such a strong team. We are also very grateful to the cheering or the “anti-cheering” team that almost did half the job for us.

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Packed with this win and the confidence gained from it, we look forward to winning Sangharsh’12-the ultimate battle!!! GO IIM-B!!!

POOL

Team IIM B – Vivek Bhagbole©, Saurabh Singh, Binoy Subba
Team IIM K – Abhishek Singh©, Abhishek Paul, Pankej Verma
Team IIM T – Mohanraj©, Prasanth, Subash

The stage was set and with eyes locked to the highest honour, the Gold, came three teams laden with unique advantages. IIM T, the newest entry in the race to glory brought with them what no one else possessed, a player with an experience of representing a state in the national tournament and the aspiration to be on top. IIM K brought the experience of Sangram’11 and the confidence of beating the best of the opponents and the hunger of snatching the championship. IIM B enjoyed the comfort of being at home, rigid as ever; holding their championship to never let go. Nevertheless, Pool certainly turned out to be the prime example of IIM B keeping their legacy intact.

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 The tournament started with a comfortable lead for the home team, leading with 9 points but the tone of the game was set in day two which witnessed the longest game of the tournament which lasted for three hours. It was the first game of the day and what a game it was! The nervous energy in the poolroom could light up the entire city and the heartbeats of every individual could be heard from miles away. It was the game between Binoy (IIM B) and Paul (IIM K). It game was race to five, where each player had to win 5 frames to be declared a winner. It was a game of shots and misses, panic and patience, nervousness and confidence, wits and will. Every shot carried an expectation, an encouragement and every shot followed an awe of excitement, anguish and appreciation. The pressure was high; four frames down, Binoy was trailing by 1-3. Even though he seemed to be at his best, his patience, composure and sense of maturity overshadowed his skills. Seven frames down, he was still trailing 3-4, it was then that his patience took an offensive turn, maintaining a firm grip at the championship he won the last two consecutive frames resulting in a 5-4 win. The intensity of the game could be imagined by the number of handshakes the winner made after the game, even the Hostel Mess staff came ahead to congratulate the winner. This may have been a win for the home team, but this was a more than a mere loss for IIM K, it was a message that they were not weak, they were prepared and they were hungry, and the home team took it the way it was meant. The number of mistakes Vivek and Saurabh committed in the next two games were next to nil, thus winning the game with discomfort being no more than an itch.

Each of the 9 games played during the tournament were of intense and result of any particular game had the potential to change the colour of the medal that they would be showered with. All the players were at their best and never gave anything away – they converted half chances to full, attempted risky shots, and never failed to maintain the integrity and discipline of the game. Each and every game was nerve wrecking and along with the mesmerizing skills, it was a great display of wit and will.

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By the end of day 2 IIM B had clenched the Championship, but the fight was far from over. Both IIM T and IIM K stood a step away from Silver with one game left to decide. The game was between Paul (IIM K) and Subash (IIM T). IIM T left the poolroom as an underdog, every word that fell in the poolroom would hint towards IIM K being the holder of the Silver medal. But when the last game of the tournament commenced on day 3, the scene was beyond all expectations. IIM T was all over IIM K, they were like a wounded tiger fighting for what was rightfully theirs, and in the end, aspiration prevailed clinching Silver medal in the final hours of Sangram’12.

All in all the tournament was of the highest quality and team IIM B’s display of the game was sublime with intrinsic skills, making the right moves and forming veracious strategy against their opponents. The opponents were in the shadow of the mountain of their achievements throughout the tournament, and the existence of the mountain will be spoken about in years to come but the flashes of sparkles made in the shadow by the opponents will never be forgotten by anyone in the vicinity. Anyone who witnessed these games would be forever struck by the Sangram effect.

SWIMMING (Boys)

Team IIM B – Madhukar Bhardwaj©, Ravi Kumar Yadav, Lovneet Tyagi, Ritesh Yadav, Shreesh Vurutha, Srinivasan G D, Anoop Mangaraj

Having lost the swimming competition at Sangram ’11 in Kozhikode, the swimming team of IIMB was eager to win it back from IIMK, while the team from IIMT promised to be the dark horses. The competition consisted of 10 events consisting of both individual and team relay races in all 4 strokes. It started with the 100 m freestyle event and the team from IIMB seized the early initiative claiming the top 3 positions and hence all the points from the race. The 2nd race was the 50 m backstroke and IIMB once again emerged victorious, claiming 2 of the 3 podium places in this as well. This eventually set into a pattern with the IIMB swimmers consistently outperforming their counterparts from Kozhikode and Trichy. The team from Trichy was also handicapped in that they had only 2 swimmers and thus could not take part in the team relay events. The 2nd place in these races thus went to Kozhikode by default, with the IIMB team taking the 1st position.

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With convincing performances throughout, what set out as a 19-4-3 points lead for IIMB versus its rivals going into the 2nd day of swimming events, eventually ended at 46 points to 11 points for IIMK and 9 points for IIMT by the time the competition got over. For IIMB, Shreesh Vurutha was the star, winning all the races (individual & in team relays) and ending up with 10 Golds! Special mention is also needed for Arun Raghuram, the IIMT captain who valiantly competed in all the races after his teammate got injured, and also put in an appearance in the final team medley event of the competition, putting in all the strokes on his own! All in all, the swimming competition was well organized, and though lacked major crowd cheering as it had to be staged outside the campus, it was appreciated by all the participating teams and was turned into a great success by the spirit of the competitors from all 3 institutes.

SWIMMING (Girls)

The swimming event was the only one which was held outside the 100 acres sprawling campus of IIM Bangalore. For the first time in the history of Sangram, the girls swimming team saw such enthusiastic participation. IIM Bangalore topped the list in both participation as well as the number of medals won. The girl swimming team of IIM Bangalore was represented by 4 girls, with Radhika Katyal, national level swimmer, leading the team while the other two teams were represented by one member each. The institute was represented by more than two swimmers in almost every event and they won at least two medals in each event. The moment of pride for the girls swimming team came when the IIM Kozhikode team mentioned that they would like to give the “Dolphin Award of Sangram” to Radhika Katyal for her exemplary swimming. The entire team watched in admiration while Radhika completed the 25 m freestyle in a single breath clocking just over 19 seconds. Radhika has been training from a very young age and has won over 300 national level competitions in swimming. Her sportsmanship and motivation led her team to sweep away almost all the prizes in the event. Shruti Pangtey won 3 bronze medals with backstroke being her forte. Latngenhun and Aathira Jayaraj won one bronze each in the event. Hadn’t been the support and motivation given by their captain and the Sports Secretary, Ravi Yadav, they would not have been able to do as well as they did. Ravi was there throughout the event to cheer the team on whether they won or lost, showing true sportsman spirit. Ravi also treated the victorious teams to a lunch at Mc Donald’s right after the event.

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BADMINTON (Boys)

Devils see “No Mercy” and that’s what the devil’s in IIMB Baddy team did. The Host squashed the guests in no time to conquer the courts. 

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It was a clean sweep against team from IIMK and by the time they realised it, it was too late as the storm had done its job. The team from IIMT somehow managed a breathe by taking the first game but after 10 minutes it was all history as the devils cruised to victory taking the next 3 games. They sweated it out, played their skill & ended up with splendid scores for Boys (3-0 Vs IIMK & 3-1 Vs IIMT) & Girls (2-0 Vs both IIMK & IIMT). In short IIMB-Devils Rocked the Courts!!!

BADMINTON (Girls)

The Sangram Badminton Event for the girls was a total wipe out by the Bangalore team if one were to be honest. The second spot was taken by Kozhikode followed by IIM-Trichy. Whether it was a lack of preparation or poor strategy of picking the order of players hopefully Trichy will do much better than their debut performance this year. Coming to the old rivals, the singles match was largely a one-sided affair with Pavithra taking complete control both at the net as well as at the base line. Well placed drops coupled with effective smashes ensured a win over her Kozhikode opponent at a score below 10 for both sets. Played by Manasi and Moushumi, the doubles match too was an easy win for the Bangalore team. Some ear-crushing smashes and well-placed shots interspersed with a lot of comic moments like the sounds of a player earnestly entreating the shuttle to land over the net on the other court- “ja-ja” sure made it an entertaining watch for the side viewers.

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All in all, it was a good tournament and a victorious one for the home team. The 28-score 2nd set and the occasional shots of humour in the doubles match between the Kozhi and Bangalore Team ended the girls matches on a pleasant, if amusing note.

BASKETBALL

  Our Basketball teams continued their dominance in Sangram. With their impeccable shooting and tight defence, the men’s team thrashed their opponents, winning both matches by huge margins. In the match against Trichy, Captain Binoy Tudu started off with a 3-pointer in the very 1st minute giving a wake-up call to the guests. Later on things turned out to be even worse for the guests with the host team getting better and better as the match progressed. A 100 per-cent free through conversion rate is another highlight of this match. Though Kozhikode outperformed Trichy with their pace in their first match and was apparently unstoppable, looked helpless against our Banglore team. Our Women’s team proved no less to our men’s team when it comes to winning. They need a special mention for putting up a spectacular show against Kozhikode. The closely contested match was clinched by a clutch 2-pointer from captain Priyanka Soni 10 seconds from the final whistle. Adeeba Ansari with exceptional ball handling and shooting contributed hugely in the team’s triumph. Should say again our strong defence partly attributed to wins in both the matches against very strong opponents.  All the matches were a treat for the home audience who with their continuous cheering and sledging was a special attraction to the event.

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CAROM

In Sangram 2012, IIM B won gold medal by having a clean win over IIM K and IIM T. IIM K and IIM T could not win even a single match against IIM B.

In the first round, IIM B played against IIM K. The 1st match was singles match between captains of IIM B (Ganesh) and IIM K (Kartik). The very 1st board of the match, Kartik lost by having all the 9 pieces on the board and Ganesh took a lead of 12 points. In the next 2 boards, Ganesh completed 25 points and Kartik couldn’t score even a single point. In other three matches (one singles, one doubles and one mixed doubles), IIM K teams showed some resistance, but couldn’t hold the powerful play of IIM B players. Most of the matches clinched by IIMB were one sided and score line said 25-0.

In the second round, IIM B again won all the 4 matches against IIM T and secured its 1st position. In the third round between IIMK and IIMT, there was a fight for 2nd place in the tournament. It was a very tough fight and IIMK won with a score of 3-2 in five matches played.

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FOOTBALL

It was a disappointing show by the IIM-B contingent to end up settling for bronze considering the highly potential on-paper team of talented youngsters. A good lesson learnt, nonetheless ! What was lacking was definitely the sting that we are really strong at, capitalizing on defensive errors or a counter-attack that we have always got goals in.

Considering the number of injuries(Jayant, Ajinkya,etc)  and the absence of PGP2s gone for exchange (the vice captain Akshay, the wall – Mohnish, the fighter- Shobhit), we believe when we play with our full strength ABCL meet will be ours.

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We will keep playing and be better. The love for the game will never diminish. A scar is left behind and we will bury them with a win soon.

 If you’re attacking, you don’t get as tired as when you’re chasing.  ~Kyle Rot

CHESS

Team IIM B – Sumit(c), Ayan, Chaitanya, Arjun and Khushal
Team IIM K – Swaroop(c), Saurabh, Soham, Sachin and Pratik
Team IIM T – Prashant Toppo(c), Prasanth, Uday, Bhaswanth and Siva

Teams consisted of 5 players with 4 regular and 1 substitute player available to each team. All teams played 2 matches against each of its opponents resulting in 6 matches in total. Each match consisted of 4 games according to the FIDE norms for team chess tournaments. For the 1st time in the recent years Fischer format of time control was used in an Inter IIM Chess Tournament. Each player had 30 minutes to begin with and 10 seconds got added to the available time for each move made. This actually allows for a better completion of the shorter versions of chess ensuring that a player with positional and/or material advantage doesn’t lose just because he ran out of time.

Sumit Garg was the best performer, being the only player in all three teams, winning all 4 out 4 games. Saurabh Verma of IIMK was probably the best player of the tournament with a very deep understanding of Positional Play. IIMB thrashed IIMT in the second round with an unmatched 4-0 score.

We witnessed many memorable moments throughout the tournament. In one match between Khushal vs. Saurabh, Khushal was down by material worth 15 point when he started drawing cartoons on a piece of paper. Many initially thought he was noting down the moves like Saurabh had been doing throughout the tournament. After a series of hastily played moves, Saurabh stale mated the game as he captured the last piece. Khushal was ecstatic after the unbelievable draw erupting into “Isiliye main caricature bana raha tha”!! :O The match between Saurab vs Ayan was probably the hardest and evenly fought game in the tournament. Soham had an advantage of being a pawn up but had positional weakness in having an isolated double paw. Ayan and Soham had 4 and 10 mins left with a drawn position. Saurabh thought for 6 mins and offered a rook sacrifice, with an ensuing unclear position. Rejecting the sacrifice would result in an almost certain draw while accepting the sac could swing the game in either direction. Sacrifice was accepted which resulted in a Queening race where Saurabh managed to guide his pawn to the queening square first with extreme precision and won.

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Never say die attitude prevailed in the match between Sumit and Soham, where Sumit was down and out with a minor piece and 2 pawns down, but Soham blundered on his queen and an easy win was secured. The funniest moments of the tournament came during the match between Bhaswanth and Chaitanya. With about 5 mins left for each of the players and the game gradually entering the endgame phase Bhaswanth couldn’t handle the time pressure and started banging the pieces on the board and computer chess clock with such force that people got worried if he might end up damaging the laptop. Everybody started laughing when Bhaswanth exchanged the queens make extremely loud noise and almost throwing the opponents queen out of the board. As expected with such a nervous show Bhaswanth blundered a minor piece and ended up losing. At the end of the game Bhaswanth was actually checking if he had managed to break the laptop.

Though it was a tough competition, where nuisances and few wrong decisions decided the winner, it was the spirit of the game that united us. After the game, we had a friendly chat with the other team players about Chess and also how they feel about our campus and the chill ambience here. It was indeed an unforgettable experience and we learnt a lot from it.

LAWN TENNIS (Boys)

 After the thrilling 3-0 win last year against IIMK on its home ground, the Lawn Tennis team of IIMB was all geared up to repeat the feat, this time in its own territory. The latter made a comfortable start to their campaign with 3-0 win against IIMT in best of 5 matches. The score line read: Match 1 – 6-1, 6-1; Match 2 – 6-1, 6-0 and Match 3 – 6-1, 6-2.

The next day awaited the arch rivals IIMB vs IIMK. It was a classic start to the match – Girish, IIMK’s lead player and a state level player pitched against a young lad from IIT Delhi, Deepak, who had strong baseline play.  The match turned out to be a one sided play with IIMB winning 6-1, 6-1. This was followed by a grueling encounter between two strong baseline players, Sandeep (IIMK) and Arvind (IIMB). Both the players matched the other in their baseline play with heavy top spin. The match lasted for over 2 hrs with IIMK pulling off in a thrilling 3rd set. With the best of 5 match tied at 1-1, IIMB’s captain, Tanul teamed with Deepak in their first doubles encounter with Girish and Abhishek. A classic doubles game ensued with IIMB team displaying an excellent movement on the court. Deepak created opportunities from the baseline and Tanul dominated at the net with strong volleys. The IIM Bangalore team rode the momentum and ended the match with a 6-1, 6-1 dominating win. In the 4th match, Tanul, stepped in his singles match with Abhishek, veteran from IIMK. Tanul dominated the match with his good mix of play, doing serve-and-volley and good court coverage. It was a much anticipated 3-1 win in favor of IIMB.

As part of the protocol, the last match was between IIMK and IIMT. IIMT captain Nikhil led from the front putting up a gritty performance against IIMK. All the matches were played with heavy flow of adrenaline and it was amazing to see 3 IIMs battling it out for the top position.

LAWN TENNIS (Girls)

 To know that IIM K team had three players and is entering the match as favourite unlike IIMB with two players had only made it more exciting. The tennis match took place on the second day of Sangram and lasted for 4 hours, 5 pm to 9 pm.  At the end, though it left cramps and severe body aches, it did not come in the way of utmost happiness for players for getting to represent IIM B and for putting up a great show. The best part was when everyone from the college try to help out in every possible way and the match becomes a foray that unites everybody. To see IIMB lift the trophy at the end of three days of intense competition and to be a part of this success has made the end even more beautiful than the beginning. The only disappointment was that the meet came to an end after three days.  A feeling of pride and unmatchable fun clubbed together left wonderful memories, once again emphasizing that IIM B is indeed “the place to be”. 

CRICKET

In a religious country like India where cricket is religion, the cricketers and spectators have reasons to cheer in IIMB this time as IIM Trichy participated in their first ever Sangram. This meant two things for us, one more match to play and more importantly one more team to beat to leave no doubt regarding IIM B’s supremacy on cricket ground. While we had previous experience of playing against IIMK, nobody was sure as to what to expect from IIMT and this raised the excitement level even further.

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The war-horns were sounded and the battle commenced on a warm yet tense afternoon on 22nd Sep. All eyes were set on the two enthusiastic captains of IIMK & IIMT. Both were eagerly waiting for the toss to turn in their favour and raring to pounce on the pitch. In the midst of the ear-numbing cheers & chants for the very first cricket match of Sangram’12, IIMT, won the toss and decided to bat first. Entering Sangram for the first time, IIMT wanted to prove their grit, and scored a brave 146 runs in 20 overs. But, IIMK utterly overwhelmed IIMT with their class, with both their openers scoring the target in mere 12 overs. Ankur and Anshul, the unbeaten openers, both scored half-centuries.

The second match was between IIMB and IIMK, expectations weighing down heavily on both sides. Both the confident teams, IIMB with its legacy, and IIMK with its winning spree, were ready to prove their mettle as soon as the toss ended up in favour of IIMB. IIMB chose to bat first that meant our good luck charm Aniket had to pad up and do nothing for the whole innings. Nikhil (aka chiknis) and Chandan (aka chandu) opened batting for us. Unfortunately Chandu fell early after hitting a massive six of 103 mtr in the second over. Thereafter Ram joined in center and played nice shots including one massive six while steadying the innings. Meanwhile Chiknis continued in his usual fashion. After Ram, it was turn for captain to go in. The flow of run continued as usual. After Pankaj got out, our superman and Inter IIM highest scorer of Sangharsh, Shantanu (48 runs) went in and started hitting the ball right from the word go. After Nikhil got out, Suresh was the next batsman in. This was special for him and the team since it was his comeback after getting injured. He batted brilliantly and in no time had a 50 runs partnership with Shanti. In the end Nilesh joined in center and played some superb ‘dhulescoops’ putting dilshan to shame. While dilscoop rarely go over the boundary, dhulescoops never settle for anything less than a six!  Firing up the ground with their boundaries, IIMB made a spectacular 172 runs in 20 overs. Facing a mammoth total of 172 runs and a rather tight fielding, IIMK made slow start losing 5 wickets within its first 20 runs. Maintaining their wickets, they made a fantastic 30+ runs in the last two overs before ending their innings at 148 runs. Cheers to those IIMB players who made this possible – Shantanu, Suresh & Sabnis showered unstoppable boundaries only to make the crowd go berserk; Santi, Ghule and Aniket Karde’s sharp & precise bowling made life difficult for the IIMK batsmen in the middle. New ball bowlers were unplayable with the new ball.

The third & the last match was decidedly a thrilling encounter, where if IIMT beat IIMB, the whole contest would have been open with each team having a win under their belt. IIMB again batted first. Chandan and Sabnis (44 runs), with a fantastic opening stand put 94 runs on the board in the first 10 overs. Attempting to accelerate the scoring, IIMB lost too many wickets in a short span, but still ended up putting 182 runs on the board. With a steep target, IIMT looked for an aggressive start, but after some initial fireworks, lost both their openers in a quick succession, thanks to Amit, Shantanu & Pankaj’s lethal bowling. IIMT could never recover from this loss, and the rest of the match proved to be a cake walk for IIMB winning by 102 runs. Amit bowled superbly with his hat trick chance taking 3 wickets for just 10 runs.

Thus IIMB once again proved their supremacy over others as was evident by the one-sided nature of matches. The team looked like a complete unit, was active throughout the match in field not giving away any extra runs.  Even those who couldn’t get into playing 11 did their best in whatever way they could have helped the team. Special mention goes to Saurabh Singh. Overall it was a clinical display by IIMB in each department of the game to clinch the gold once again and set the stage for Sangharsh next year.

VOLLEYBALL – THE ULTIMATE CLIMAX

Volleyball has been and will still be the climax event of any tournament as it gets the maximum audience to end the show on high energy spirits. IIMB Volleyball team didn’t disappoint the crowd to this extent. After hours of practice every day in the late night despite hectic academic schedule and other activities, the volley ball players from IIMB were ready to march in for Sangram’12. This time the battle to be fought was not only against IIMK but also against a new contingent, IIMT.

“Last year, we played well and won against IIMK at IIMK campus. This time IIMK would be furious to beat us and also, we have additional battle to be fought against IIMT. We are making sure that we retain our glory and our tradition of winning. Hence, we left no stone unturned during our intense practice sessions” echoed, Vivek Kumar, captain of IIMB volley ball team.

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In spite of Vice-captain of IIMB team leaving for exchange and few other players frequently getting injured, the volley ball team of IIMB was full of zest and confidence to take on the first battle on the court against IIMT. It was no surprise that IIMT was thrashed in straight three sets and that too under 10 points.

As expected, IIMK defeated IIMT and was ready to take on IIMB in the grand finale. The results of all other sports were declared except for volley ball final match between IIMB & IIMK, which was scheduled just before the prize distribution ceremony in order to attract more masses and create an exciting atmosphere.

The court was jam-packed with full of supporters cheering for their respective teams. Another set of crowd were completely engrossed in sledging the opponent team and making them commit mistakes. IIMB was initially losing points in the first set but then they regained their confidence and strategized their play to get the form back. IIMB emerged victorious in the first set by thrashing IIMK under 20 points. The second set was tough and electrifying to watch. Eventually, IIMK had to cede in to the prowess of IIMB volley ball team.

Handshakes were exchanged and each team congratulated the other team to exude sportsmanship and celebrate sporting culture as a whole. The 3 day sporting event of Sangram comprising of 20 sports was concluded with prize distribution ceremony.

FinalLy ……….

In an action packed stretch of 3 sunny days (22nd Sep to 24th Sep), IIM Bangalore played host to one of the biggest B-school sporting extravaganza of all time – Sangram ‘12. The Sporting League was inaugurated by Professor Shri Raghunath S. amidst much fanfare. The opening ceremony commenced with a short address followed by a march past by the contingents of the three teams, led by their respective Sports Secretaries. 

 

For 3 days the budding managers of IIMB took a break from their daily routine and cheered for their beloved home-team. While the contingents from IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode and IIM Trichy battled it out over twenty games as diverse as Pool and Kho-Kho, the friendly nature of the competition cemented the enduring relationship between the three participating institutions.

Though the three teams consisted of a few national level and state level players in a range of sports, everyone collaborated as a team and delivered three days of electrifying performances. Though it was a tough competition, it was the spirit of the game that bound them all.

Backed by the respective cheering squads, the event was kicked off with a game of football between IIM Bangalore and IIM Trichy. The early matches saw IIMB getting a huge lead as IIMB had a dream run in events like Swimming, Cricket, Hockey, Tennis, Badminton, Basket Ball, Volleyball, Throwball, Pool and Carom, under the leadership of the respective captains.

At the end of the three days, IIM Bangalore, with an enviable medals tally of 14 Gold and 4 Silver in the 20 sporting events, successfully defended the coveted title. IIM Kozhikode was second with a overall event-wise medals tally of 7 Gold and 11 Silver. IIM Trichy put up an impressive debut performance with 5 silver medals in its kitty.

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Though the Sangram 2012 final results might look a bit one-sided in favour of the mighty IIM B contingent, there were a number of events which could have gone either way. IIM B enjoyed the comfort of being at home, rigid as ever; holding their championship to never let go. IIM Kozhikode brought with them the experience of Sangram’11. The dark horse of the Sangram ’12 was undoubtedly the IIM Trichy team. In spite of the lack of preparation and unfavourable timing going against them, IIM Trichy put up a valiant show in their historic first appearance at this year’s Sangram.

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Most of the girls’ events like Throwball, Basketball and Swimming witnessed a total wipe out by the Bangalore team. The second spot was sealed by Kozhikode by virtue of its star-studded girls Lawn Tennis and Table-Tennis team. IIM-Trichy also delivered its share of surprise by putting up a brave front in girls swimming event.

If the days witnessed sports rivalry, the nights witnessed celebration of the IIM spirit. The highlight of the first night was exhibition Girls’ Gully Cricket match at BEFG square. The second night saw the cultural committee of IIMB presenting an exciting ensemble of fun events and performances in honour of the visiting teams – exhausted from the thrilling performances delivered throughout the day. The enthralling show put up by the supremely talented and enthusiastic singers from the three IIMs uplifted the overall mood to one filled with fun and frolic.

Sangram ’12 proved once again that the rivalry between the Best B-schools of the nation are not limited to just academics and placements. The well organised event succeeded in living by its motto of providing the students with a platform to display their talents outside the confines of academics.

 

CONGRATULATIONS IIM BANGALORE!!!

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