Moments from the inter-club dance competition on the opening night of the Saturday Club sports carnival on Friday. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

The Saturday Club 34th Inter Club Sports Carnival, presented by The Telegraph, kicked off with a sports quiz at the club lawns on April 23. Tackling the googlies and smashing the sixes, the host club emerged the champs. The official opening ceremony on April 24 also saw flag exchanges of all participating clubs with the host club.

“To carry on something as remarkable as this for 34 years with everything running like clockwork requires some very dedicated volunteers,” said Rajen Sood, the happy host and club president.

On till May 2, the carnival will witness 10 clubs — Calcutta Club, CC&FC, Calcutta Punjab Club, Bengal Rowing Club, Dalhousie Institute, Calcutta Swimming Club, Ordnance Club, Saturday Club, Tollygunge Club and RCGC — battling it out for the champion’s trophy.

The mainstay of the opening evening on Friday was a talent competition that was attended by 2,000 people. Each team was allotted 10 minutes to present its act on the makeshift stage on the club lawns. The judges for the evening, actress Pallavi Chatterjee, event manager Oindrilla Dutt and Odissi dancer Sharmila Biswas, marked them on presentation, theme, performance, originality, costume and styling. “As a judge I would like to see the effort or the seriousness put in by the participants,” smiled club member Pallavi.

DI wowed the audience and came third with its spirited tribute to the RK film family with sets, props, costumes and high drama. Tollygunge Club came second with its tribute to “summertime”, transporting the audience to the beaches of Hawaii with sarong, sand, sea and sun. Saturday Club bagged the winner’s trophy with its Broadway-style jazz presentation that closed with A.R. Rahman’s Jai ho.

The weekend saw the preliminary and elimination rounds of many of the carnival sporting events — badminton, tennis, swimming, table tennis, squash, snooker and bridge. The finals will be held on April 30 and May 1, leading up to the prize distribution ceremony on May 2.

But the carnival would not be the carnival without some unadulterated fun. So if you drop by at Saturday Club mid-week, you will see club members trying to beat each other at non-competitive sports like arm wrestling, tug-of-war, a game of darts or even lemon and spoon race.