The Calcutta Swimming Club organised their first Inter-Club Sports Carnival, in association with The Telegraph, which started on October 27 and went on till November 12, with a grand closing ceremony. It was the most active and dynamic club-level sports carnival the city has ever witnessed. Other clubs like The Saturday Club, The Calcutta Punjab Club, Royal Calcutta Golf Club and other prestigious clubs participated in the carnival. All these clubs came together with high spirits and indulged in fair games of table tennis, chess, poker, darts, cricket, squash, swimming, snooker, badminton and the triathlon along with four non-sport and fun games like Beer Pong, Guess the Cocktail, Beer Gulp on Ice and RC Car Racing event. To make the carnival more interesting and distinctive, all the sports events were streaming live on the club’s YouTube channel.
After a long period of isolation due to the pandemic, all the members from every club that participated were heavily enthusiastic and full of energy. On the last day of the zestful sports carnival, CSC (The Calcutta Swimming Club) organised a gala prize distribution ceremony. The grand sports carnival ended with a stunning DJ Night with DJ Vicky Metharamani who was accompanied by Argentinian saxophonist Miss Gala Samanta Soler Gonzalez and percussionist Anish Kala from Goa adding more charm to the night.
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“From representing CSC for close to 30 years in several sports carnivals across the city, it was certainly a dream come true to host our very own carnival of such magnitude. The benchmark for all other sporting carnivals has been now set! The credit of the mega success goes to the committee, the sports and the entertainment team and the magnificent staff of CSC,” said Rahul Singhi, sports convener, CSC
“We had no option but to match the zeal and enthusiasm of our sports team. Apart from other fun events, we held the novel RC car racing event for the first time in the club circuit of the city where we literally converted our outdoor swimming pool into a race track with bumps and hurdles. It was just grandeur and thrill and a special thanks to team Top Gun led by our very own member Sanket Mittal,” said Gaurav Chokhany, entertainment chairman, CSC
“For the past several months we as a team have eaten, slept and dreamt only about the first edition of CSC Sports Carnival. The carnival was a week-long fiesta of competitive sports and even greater camaraderie. It was the finest mélange of fun, entertainment and sports. On the personal front it was great to be unanimously voted as the recipient of the coveted ‘Champion of Champions’ trophy. My teammates forced me to be a part of the triathlon apart from badminton and table tennis, which I generally participate in, despite myself not being in practice for last several years. We were runners-up in that event and it gave us the jump-start to be the front-runners for the overall trophy,” said Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, sports chairman, CSC, and winner of the Champion of Champions trophy
Juhi Parekh from The Calcutta Swimming Club won the trophy for Best Female Performer
Manav Malhotra from The Saturday Club won the Best Male Performer
Miss Gala, DJ Vicky and Anish Kala provided the perfect end to the grand carnival
A fun Beer Gulp On Ice game
(L-R) Rajshree Goyal; Dr. Naresh Goyal, president, CSC; Nitin Dani, vice president, CSC; and Amita Dani. “We’re very happy and proud that we hosted the inter-club sports carnival for the first time in The Calcutta Swimming Club. This was our dream for a very long time and finally we could do it. Most importantly, all the other clubs that participated enjoyed to the fullest,” said Naresh Goyal. Nitin Dani extended his wishes to all the winners by saying, “It gives me immense satisfaction to say that our club has hosted one of the best sports carnivals of our city. Many congratulations to all the participants and winners.”
Champagnes were popped open as The Calcutta Swimming Club were crowned as the winners of the CSC Sports Carnival with 26 points
CC&FC were the winners of the cricket tournament. “Very well-organised tournament with great team spirit and sportsmanship shown by all the clubs. We were the underdogs and we really had to dig deep in the final to pull off this victory,” said Aaron Redden, cricket team captain, CC&FC
The Calcutta Swimming Club was the winner in swimming. Captains Dipti Shanghavi and Ashish Jhunjhunwala said, “The swimming format, with maximum relays, was a first of its kind in Calcutta, as a result of which all captains really had to scratch their brains for putting up their best combinations. In the end, the host club CSC, whose heart being swimmimg, with its brilliant junior, senior and veteran swimmers, edged out DI and Tolly to win the coveted swimming championship. A big shout out to all the CSC swimmers.”
The Bengal Rowing Club was the winner of the Triathlon event. “It was a very nice, new and challenging experience. Doing three activities together was interesting. We were the only team with two female participants and we were happy to win it,” said captain Vipul Majeji
The winner of the poker game was The Calcutta Punjab Club. “Poker is a game of skill, strategy and tests your nerves. Contesting with the stalwarts is never an easy task where many players read a lot into the game are competing with us. But our entire team held the ground and were leading on their respective tables to take the team to the final win. Divided into two days, the first day for qualifying, moving on while wiping out the opponents and second day for acing it to finish on the top — a thrilling tournament of poker,” said Pravleen Kumar
The Saturday Club was the winner of the darts tournament. “Congratulations to CSC for organising such an amazing carnival. It was a great week for sports and entertainment. All teams played in full spirit and we lifted the darts trophy. Thank you team Saturday Club for giving your best,” said captain Satyam Sethia
The Tollygunge Club was the winner of the squash tournament. Captain Varun Swaroop said, “Kudos to the Calcutta Swimming Club on a superbly organised inaugural inter-club sports carnival. The rules were clear, the venue was abuzz, and the live web streaming was a great touch. Thank you also to the Tolly squash team members who showed up every day and put up a great show to make Tolly’s the first name on the winner’s list!”
The Saturday Club was the winner of the badminton tournament. Captain Raunuq Singh Roy said, “I’m really proud of my entire team, all of them performed like champs. I too thoroughly enjoyed playing singles after so many years.”
The Bengal Rowing Club won the trophy for table-tennis. Captain Vedant Ajmera said, “Firstly, I would like to thank CSC for hosting such a well-organised event. I’m very proud of my team for the way each one of them has played and I couldn’t be happier for them because all their hard work and practice has paid off. I look forward to winning many more tournaments with this team.”
The Hindustan Club was the winner of the snooker tournament. Captain Abhishek Kedia said, “At the outset would like to thank CSC for making HC a part of this wonderful event. The organisers have done a commendable effort. On winning, I would like to say it was a complete team effort. Feeling proud. Thank you.”
Winners
- Triathlon: The Bengal Rowing Club
- Table Tennis: Bengal Rowing Club
- Swimming: The Calcutta Swimming Club
- Chess: The Calcutta Swimming Club
- Cricket: CC&FC
- Darts: The Saturday Club
- Squash: The Tollygunge Club
- Poker: The Calcutta Punjab Club
- Badminton: The Saturday Club
- Snooker: The Hindustan Club
- Best Female Performer: Juhi Parekh (CSC)
- Best Male Performer: Manav Malhotra (The Saturday Club)
