This past week saw IIT-Madras play host to a city-wide sports extravaganza – SportsFest 2014. With colleges participating from all over the city, this is one of the best “match-practice” situations leading up to the hotly contested Inter–IIT Sports Meet. It was heartening to see outstanding performances from IITM in all the sports events, promising a good shot at the General Championship, come December.
Badminton
The men’s draw saw IITM ‘s A team take gold while the B team took bronze. IITM’s A team waltzed to victories against DG Vaishnav College in the Knockouts and successfully overcame Vivekananda, Gurunanak & their B team compatriots to notch up an impressive gold medal. An IITM 1-2 was in the running until Gurunanak beat IITM’s B team to place silver. In the women’s draw, IITM placed second defeating Queen Mary’s & NIFT (Taramani) comfortably, but losing out to Stella Maris in the decisive final.
Basketball
After making it to the league stage, IITM men’s team finished 4th while the women’s team bagged a silver medal. The women’s team lost to Stella Maris in the decider, after beating Women’s Christian College and Ethiraj College in the league stage. IITM men’s team also put up a commendable performance, having lost their league matches by close margins.
Football
The IITM A team secured a silver medal after hard fought battles with VIT (4-2 on penalties), Vivekananda College (2-0) & Nazareth College (0-0). The loss against New College despite numerous attempts on goals was seen as lacklustre performance, but the captain maintains that the positives are numerous considering the number of first-
timers on the team. The B team had a rough outing, losing to Patrician College on penalties (1-3) after an enthralling 2-2 draw in normal time.
Hockey
IITM had to settle for a bronze this year after facing stiff competition from St. Joseph’s, Nazareth College & Gurunanak College in the league stages. Unfortunate losses against St. Joseph’s & Nazareth ensured that IITM could secure only a bronze despite a dominant 4-1 effort against Gurunanak. “The inexperience of the forwards was a differentiating factor,” claimed skipper, Mayank (Makade), “but we will be ready by Inter – IIT.” The B team, however, disappointed with a 0-12 loss to St. Joseph’s, failing to make the league stages.
Table Tennis 
IIT M’s A team bagged the silver medal in the men’s draw while the women bagged the bronze medal and the fourth place. The A team in the men’s draw looked all set to take gold until they came up short in a close contest against DG Vaishnav College, while the girls had a disappointing run, losing games to both Ethiraj & Stella, who finished first and second respectively.
Tennis
IIT Madras had an average outing this year. The men’s draw saw the A team place fourth while the B team and the C team didn’t make it to the league stages. In the women’s draw, IIT Madras secured a bronze medal, beating St. Joseph’s, while losing out to Stella Maris & Loyola College.
Volleyball
The outing in the men’s draw left a lot to be desired. The men’s team failed to make the league stages being knocked out 0-2 in their second game against Gurunanak who subsequently placed fourth in the leagues, behind Vel’s University, D B Jain College and Hindustan Arts & Science College. The women’s draw proved more promising with the IITM team bagging the bronze medal after defeating Stella Maris in a nail-biting contest in 4 sets.
Weightlifting
The unit did IITM proud (yet again!) by bagging the gold medal (A team) & the bronze medal (B team). Outstanding performances from Veerendra with an impressive tally of 165 kg (snatch + clean & jerk) took gold in the U69 category while skipper Devendra took gold in the U56 category with a total of 149 kg. Total domination in the U69 & U62 categories ensured IITM a gold. Velammal College– last year’s winners– finished second.
