SVNIT hosted the All-India Inter-NIT Cricket and Badminton Tournaments from 20-23 February, 2020. The cricket matches took place at various cricket grounds scattered throughout the city of Surat, including the SAC Cricket Ground on the SVNIT campus. Meanwhile, the badminton matches were played in the SAC Badminton Hall on campus.
A total of 21 cricket teams (divided into 7 pools) locked horns in this prestigious tournament. Chasing a target of 88 runs (in 15 overs) against Raipur in their first league match, the Surat boys fell short by an agonizingly small margin, losing by 8 runs. In their second match against Nagaland, the SVNIT team elevated their game and chased the target of 72 runs in just 9.3 overs. Himanshu Bhardwaj from SVNIT won Man of the Match in the Nagaland clash for his 20(11) while batting and 3/17 while bowling. However, the SVNIT team couldn’t advance to the finals. Later on, Allahabad beat Nagpur by 4 wickets in the finals to win the title of Cricket Inter-NIT 2020 Champions.
19 boys’ teams (divided into 6 pools) and 14 girls’ teams (divided into 4 pools) participated in the Badminton tournament. Each match between the badminton teams consisted of a combination of singles and doubles games. The top teams from each pool advanced to the quarter-finals.
The SVNIT girls beat Jamshedpur and Raipur, and lost against Trichy, to finish 2nd in their league stage pool and advanced to the quarters. After a well fought quarter-finals game, the Surat girls lost against Jaipur. Trichy beat Nagpur in the finals and were crowned Badminton Inter-NIT 2020 Girls Champions.
The SVNIT boys team beat both Delhi and Bhopal in the league stage to earn a place in the quarters. They then beat Surathkal in their quarter-final clash to advance to the semis. A thrilling semi-final contest between Allahabad and Surat culminated in favour of the latter, with Surat storming into the finals on their home ground. In the 2nd semi-final, Calicut defeated Trichy to book a finals date with Surat. Word had spread around campus that the hosts were in the finals, and the crowd flooded into the badminton court to get behind and support their home team.
The atmosphere in the grand finale was absolutely electric, with deafening chants of “Surat-Surat” echoing through the SAC badminton hall. After a riveting final, Surat defeated Calicut to win the tournament and earn the title of Badminton Inter-NIT 2020 Boys Champions. Captain Shyam Sundar was awarded the Player of the Tournament for Badminton.
Renesa heartily congratulates all the winning teams and wishes them all the best for the future. We are proud of our institute’s athletes for their hard work and dedication towards their sports and hope that they continue to bring laurels to NIT Surat.
SUMANT S. DANGI
Junior Editor, Renesa
This article was originally written for and published on Renesa – The Official Media and Publication House of NIT Surat.
