Sharjah: Chettinad Vidhyashram Chennai completed a fine hat-trick while hosts Delhi Private School (DPS), Sharjah reclaimed the boy’s title after a four-year gap in the basketball competition at the 14th Sundeep Batavia Memorial Inter-School Championships held at the DPS auditorium, earlier this week.
The annual championship featuring competitions in cricket, basketball and table tennis, is hosted by DPS Sharjah over eight days in an attempt to give school kids from the UAE and India a unique platform to express themselves through sports.
Chettinad Vidhyashram Chennai made it three titles-in-a-row with a 44-26 win over DPS Sharjah, while the hosts’ team came up with a strong performance to defeat arch-rivals Indian High School Dubai 62-55 for the boys’ title after a four-year gap.
The Chettinad Vidhyashram triumph was very much predicted with the team from Chennai being served by at least six Tamil Nadu state junior team players. The Vidhyashram march was led by the aggressive Nikita Reddy with 14 points, and was well assisted by Amrusha with eleven points. For the hosts, Lael Ann Balu topscored with eleven, while Ananya Sandha and Akanksha Kaushal contributed with six points apiece.
Reddy was rightly adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while Lael Ann Balu secured the most promising player award and Amrusha M. of Chettinad bagged the player of the final prize.
In the boy’s under-12 cricket final, DPS Dubai got the better of Our Own High School Al Warqa’a by 18 runs. DPS scored 132 runs in their allotted 15 overs and then bowled out Our Own for 114 runs. For DPS, Aayan Verma remained unbeaten with 69 runs from 44 balls and Hriday Savnani bagged four wickets for nine runs. For Our Own, Arsh Khan topscored with 54 from 32 balls.
Indian High School Dubai dominated the table tennis for boys while winning both the under-16 and under-18 titles for the second successive year. DPS Sharjah took the runners-up slots in both categories. And DPS Sharjah won the girls under-18 for the third consecutive year while Our Own English High School Sharjah won the girls under-16 crown while leaving Our Own and Indian High Dubai for the runners-up positions.
Sponsored and supported by Sharjah Cements, Rock Sports, Sharjah Airport Travel Agency (Sata), Crystal Plaza, ITL World, Dibaj Al Khaleej Décor, Al Marai, Air Arabia, G Force Cricket Academy, Musafir.com, Jeema Water, Kettle Chips and Sapil Style Scents, the event had 54 teams representing 19 schools participating.
Vandana Marwaha, Principal and Director, DPS Sharjah told students that the best values in life are learnt only on a playfield rather than in the classroom. “Everyone learns to embrace the values of friendship and solidarity when they shake hands with the opposing team,” she said.
