Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur recently hosted its Fourth National Sports Meet. The event drew more than 1000 students from all over the country, who showed off their skills in a wide range of activities. The two day event held on the 11th and 12th of September brought together representatives from 54 institutes in 15 cities and 8 states, making it a truly National event. The significance of the event can truly be estimated from the fact that it had renowned Indian archer and Padmashree award winner Mr. Limba Ram as the Chief Guest.

“Be A Sport” was the theme of the meet, which began in the presence of the Archery legend and other dignitaries. Over the next two days, students from Pune and Delhi NCR, Indore and Anand, Noida, Lucknow, Barelly, Udaipur and many other cities participated in 18 events, including Volleyball, Carom, Kho Kho, Cricket and Tennis. Mr. Limba Ram declared the meet open with the message, “Winning is not everything, your sportsman spirit counts. Believe in yourself and let sports build relations amongst you all.”

That, in fact, has been one of the important purposes of the meet: to let students interact, share and grow with their contemporaries while they learn important lessons. But, of course, winning was on the minds of all present, even as they were planning to have a good time and soak in the lively atmosphere on the campus. As a team member from the University of Rajasthan said, “The campus is great and the feeling all around is positive. We really feel welcome here and look forward to winning a few medals at the event.”

Things definitely got competitive on the sporting field as the participants gave their best to win bragging rights for their teams. The girls’ teams made the hosts proud by winning the Chess, Carom and Tug Of War competitions. While teams like Jaipuria, Noida that were returning to the meet wanted to do better than their performance the previous year, others like NDIM, New Delhi looked at the bigger picture. “The volleyball match was fun but overall it’s a new experience for us and we expect to learn new things about management too,” said a team member.

The two-day event concluded with the Valedictory Function that had Arjuna and Maharana Pratap award winner and India Kabbadi player, Shri Navneet Gautam as the Guest of Honour. Shri R Bhanawat, Ex-MD, RIICO, Jaipur was the Chief Guest for the function and he gave away the prizes to the deserving teams. Dr. Prabhat Pankaj, Director, Jaipuria, Jaipur thanked all participants for their enthusiasm and said, “Sport is a coming together of soft skills and hard skills. Sportsmanship is the quality to be imbibed for success in life.”

The Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour also shared their experiences with the participants and encouraged them to excel further. Mr. Bhanawat suggested, “A good sportsperson has to inculcate the 5Ss: Stamina, Strength, Speed, Skill and, most importantly, Spirit.” This was the advice that was taken to heart by all participants who were already looking forward to the meet next year. The team from R. A. Poddar, Jaipur voiced everyone’s thoughts, saying, “We will come back with a bigger team next year and participate in all of the games.”