Participants at the Founder’s Day Sports. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

Jamshedpur, March 3: Senior officials of Tata Steel took a break from work to participate in the Founder's Day Sports at Gopal Maidan this afternoon.

U.K. Chaturvedi, vice-presi dent, (Long products depart ment), D. Sengupta, vice-presi dent, TV, Narendran, principal executive officer, Sanjiv Paul, general manager (Town services) and Abhijit Mitra, chief of human resources department, gave Tinplate a run for their money in the 8 x 50 m relay race.

The audience comprising the family members of the offi cials cheered their favourite teams. The team captains, in cluding Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman, Tata Sons directors J.J. Irani and P.K. Kaul exhorted their team mates to run faster. Physical fitness was not their strong point because most of them were panting.

After doing his bit on the track, Sanjiv Paul rode pillion on Subir Majumdar motorcycle. Majumdar, a former employee of the steel major, rode the scooter blindfolded. Later when asked about the ride, Paul said he enjoyed the “safe ride”.

Dr Dinesh Upadhyay of the Tata Football Academy had checked the four bandages that were tied round Majumdar’s eyes before the ride. In 1984, Majumdar, drove a motorcycle blindfolded from the city to Navsari (birth place of JN Tata).

In the tug-of-war competition, former national basket ball team champion Sunil Panda’s sheer strength ensured his teams victory.

Morad Ali Khan, who won a gold in the Commonwealth Games last year, was declared best sportsperson of the year. Liril from general office and Dinesh Sharma of West Bokaro were declared best athletes in the women’s and men's section respectively.

Various events, including races, were organised on the occasion. West Bokaro with 66 points and Jamadoba with 14 points emerged winner and runner-up respectively in the men’s category. General Office, profit centre, shared services, West Bokaro, Jamadoba, coke, sinter and iron, CD&SW, Tribal Cul ture Centre, Lafarge, Tinplate, Tata Engineering and Tata Steel Coaching Centre participated in the events. Muthuraman, Irani and Paul handed over the prizes to the winners.