Swimming, basketball meet at city school

KOLKATA: The ASISC National Swimming and Basketball Meet was held at The Heritage School last week. Around 500 students belonging to ICSE schools from 14 states and nine regions took part in the event.
The meet kickstarted with the inauguration ceremony on Day 1, which had ace swimmer Bula Chowdhury as the chief guest. The ceremony also included a mass drill, yoga and martial arts display by students of the school.
"Not a single student or teacher has come to me and complained of any unfair judgment or unpleasantness on the ground.I feel it is a big achievement for us. I tell my students that winning is not everything. The honour of participating and getting to interact with so many students from across the nation is the main objective of this event. We have hosted the event to give our students exposure and help them learn from their experiences. Bengal has not fared exceptionally well at the sports meet. But that should not deter our students from looking at the focus and energy levels of students who have come from outside states and improve themselves," Seema Sapru, principal of the school, said. The school hosted the ASISC athletics meet last year.
On both the days, the swimmers took to the pool for a host of events that included different styles breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle. Individual as well as relay events were part of the meet. In basketball, knockout matches took place on Day I while Day II witnessed the nail-biting semi-finals and finals.
In swimming, Uttar Pradesh was declared the overall winner. Maharashtra stood second while Bengal came third. In basketball, there were separate winners in the junior and senior sections for both boys and girls. While UP grabbed the first position among the senior section of boys, Bihar and Jharkand were champions in the junior category. Among the girls, the northwest region emerged on top in the senior section while Karnataka was the winner in the junior category.
"Post-Commonwealth Games, people including parents and teachers have become more enthusiastic about sports. While previously they took sports just as another co-curricular activity, now it is being looked upon as a career option. This is a good sign for the country and events like this will definitely be of great help to students who wish to pursue sports in future," Sunil Singh, head of the sports department at The Heritage School, said.
On Day I, a cultural programme was put up by students and teachers of the host school.