Harsh Vardhan Passari and Vineet Dubey, the doubles runners up, and Debojit Shyam and Jayanta Mukherjee, the doubles winners. (below-right) Bharat Mehta of Highland Woods in action

The housing complexes in New Town may appear like islands cut off from one another but an inter-complex sporting event can be counted on to bring them all together.

Around 30 participants from five complexes came together for an inter-complex badminton tournament held at Sanjeeva Town Complex, opposite Aquatica, recently. In this first-of-its-kind event, rounds were restricted to men’s singles and men’s doubles. An exhibition veterans’ doubles match was played between those aged above 50 years.

Besides the host Sanjeeva Town, Highland Woods, near City Centre 2, Jal Vayu Towers near New Town police station, Utsa near New Town bus terminus and Sanjeeva Town Duplex, near Aquatica, had come to take part. Neighbouring Salt Lake too sent its representatives in the form of players from FE Block.

“It was a picture of bonhomie as residents mingled with each other as if they had known each other for ages,” said Ashim Kumar Bhadra of Jal Vayu Towers, who played in the singles, doubles and veterans’ matches. “There were many spectators and everybody wanted more such events on a regular basis and on a wider scale to include ladies, students and veteran players.”

The men’s singles was eventually won by Jayanta Mukherjee of Sanjeeva Town and the doubles by Jayanta Mukherjee and Debojit Shyam, again of Sanjeeva Town.

“Many complexes in New Town have badminton courts but residents are limited to playing amongst themselves. We organised this event so we could play with quality players living in the area. It was also an opportunity to meet neighbours as many residents of the participating complexes didn’t even know the existence of the others,” said Chao Lengdon Chaocing of Highland Woods, who was one of the organisers and the singles runner-up. Other organisers Harsh Vardhan Passari and Vineet Dubey of Sanjeeva Town were doubles runners-up.