Festive cheer arrived early at The Bengal Rowing Club, what with the Rabindra Sarobar destination winning the BRC Wesco Inter Club Sports Carnival 2016 partnered by The Telegraph for the second time in a row. They beat 11 other clubs to win in cricket, darts, bridge, snooker, tennis and squash. The week-long carnival held last month saw The Saturday Club, DKS, The Calcutta Swimming Club (CSC), Calcutta Punjab Club (CPC), Dalhousie Institute (DI), Hindusthan Club, Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Calcutta South Club, Calcutta International Club, Tollygunge Club and Space Circle take on each other in 11 disciplines including badminton, futsal, table tennis, pool and poker. The Calcutta Swimming Club were a close second. t2 says ‘Congratulations!’
It was a clean sweep for The Calcutta Swimming Club in table tennis as they beat DI in the best-of-five format, bagging the first three matches and in the process, the trophy. “Last year we lost in the finals, so we had to get the Cup back home. When we won the first two matches, I realised it was time to go for the kill!” said Rahul Singhi, the table tennis captain who looks up to Swedish table tennis legend Jan-Ove Waldner (right).
Lawn tennis was the lone sport to be played at The Saturday Club, but that didn’t stop BRC from winning! “It is difficult to practise and coordinate with teammates since the club doesn’t have courts but we somehow managed. The best part was that we beat some of the main tennis-playing clubs to lift the trophy,” said BRC’s tennis captain Mohit Parakh. Team BRC beat Team DKS in the finals.
CSC and BRC faced off in the finals of squash with the host club emerging winners, their debut win in this discipline. “The entire team is ecstatic having won in squash for the first time. We got incredible support from the club and the team was very well-balanced,” said Anuj Sanganeria, squash captain of BRC. The team’s favourite player? Egypt’s Ramy Ashour (right).
When “major rivals” The Saturday Club and CSC met in the badminton finals, CSC only had “revenge” on its mind. And, what a sweet one it turned out to be with the Strand Road club winning it. “They had defeated us in the league stage and we wanted to get back at them! It was a tough match,” said Rajat Mintra, the CSC badminton and futsal captain. CSC also won in futsal, beating Dalhousie Institute.
Calcutta Punjab Club took on Dalhousie Institute in the pool finals and pocketed the first prize. “We didn’t do too bad this year. We won poker which was introduced for the first time and that feels great. The venue and the timing are perfect for a sports carnival like this,” said Manoj Nathani, sports captain of CPC.
BRC president Piyush Bhagat (right) caught up with Calcutta South Club president Enrico Piperno, the chief guest at the prize distribution. “We have started to give sports a lot of importance. We have great facilities like international-standard swimming pool, good squash and badminton courts.... We started in ’92 with just golf, now we have 11 disciplines,” said Bhagat, who played “billiards and snooker at the national level” during his junior days. “Calcutta has always been a sporting city. The inter-club rivalry has been strong for years. Sports carnivals encourage the next generation to take it up when they see their parents and relatives enjoying it,” said Piperno, India’s former Davis Cup coach.
Text: Deborima Ganguly. Pictures: Pabitra Das & Gopal Senapati
