A swimming tournament took place at the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation pool, with 175 swimmers from 30 schools competing across 106 events.
It was the CISCE Zonal Swimming and Diving Competition 2025 for ICSE-affiliated Zone G schools. The meet included events for under-14, under-17 and under-19 boys and girls, and was organised under the aegis of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. The event was hosted by St Joan’s School in GD Block.
The inaugural ceremony was held at the school auditorium and was attended by principal Debjani Ghosh, CISCE representative Priya Chakraborty, principals of various schools and Aratrika Bhattacharya, mayor-in-council member (sports), Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
And then it was action time. Soumyasree Das of the host school appeared both excited and nervous. “This is my first inter-school swimming contest. Confidence is a bit low as last year I had switched to diving,” she admitted. Yet, by the day’s end, she had earned a bronze medal. “Last year, I had won first place in the regional diving competition and second in the national,” she recalled.
Aarini Bhattacharya of Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, Salt Lake, emerged the under-14 individual champion, winning three gold medals. “Swimming is my passion. Last year, I clinched a gold medal at the CISCE national championship too,” she said.
It was a proud moment for the host school to witness Tanisha Mondal emerge champion in the under-19 individual category, winning gold in all three events she participated in. She tied with Adrija Bose of Calcutta Girls’ High School and Oyishiki Ghosh of Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar.
Gleaming with pride, Tanisha said: “About five years ago, I took up swimming as a life-saving skill because I was afraid of water. I don’t know how it turned into a passion, but now I’m considering it as my career.”
In the boys’ category, Yuvraj Bansal of La Martiniere for Boys and Rajveer Agarwal of St Paul’s Mission School shared top honours. Saunav Paul of the host school won a bronze medal in the under-19 boys’ backstroke event.
Throughout the event, principal Debjani Ghosh, vice-principal Lucia Gupta and trustee and head of international relations Jacinta Sureka were seen encouraging participants and organising team members. “It was inspiring to witness the talent and dedication each swimmer brought to the pool — no matter which school they came from,” said Gupta.
The three-day event concluded with a closing ceremony at the school, in the presence of Terence Ireland, principal of St James’ School, who encouraged students to continue striving for excellence in regional and national swimming and diving competitions. La Martiniere for Boys and La Martiniere for Girls were jointly declared school champions at the end of the three-day contest.
Bharati Kanjilal
saltlake@abp.in