Games Punjab varsities play to win award
CHANDIGARH: There is no dearth of beaches in the country but the prestigious Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) in Amritsar chose its own backyard to host the Beach National Championship in Pencak Silat --- a littleknown Indonesian martial art.
Not just that, the university authorities also hosted four major all-india tournaments --Beach National Championship in Pencak Silat, National Championship, Federation Cup and Beach Federation Cup --- in exactly a week’s time, from May 12 to 18 this year.
NO COMPETITION
The Indian Pencak Silat Federation, under whose aegis the tournaments were organised, allowed two Punjab teams to participate, and a majority of the competitors in both teams were from GNDU. Not surprisingly, the university made a clean sweep of the medals at stake.
The exercise was undertaken to help the university earn the desired number of points so that they could lift the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy (MAKA), given to the country’s top university in sport on National Sports Day. While a gold medal helps garner 150 points, a silver or a bronze earns a university 100 and 50 points, respectively. In its representation to the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) for the 2018 MAKA Trophy, GNDU has 1,07,745 points, of which around 25 per cent points are in Pencak Silat.
“As a special case and considering their talent, we allowed two teams from Punjab to compete (in the four tournaments) in some weight categories. The permission was granted after discussing the issue at our executive body as Punjab was the host state,” says Mufti Hamid Yasin, secretarygeneral, Indian Penack Silat Federation.
GNDU director sports Sukhdev Singh when asked about the discrepancies said, “These tournaments were conducted by the national federation. Better you speak to them. For more information contact the university assistant sports director Mandeep Singh.” Mandeep did not respond to repeated calls or smses.
Another martial art, sqay, too contributed a sizeable number of points to the university. There was no GNDU player among medal winners at the national championships, but most of the medal winners in the Federation Cup, hosted by the university, were GNDU students.
When contacted Mir Nazir Ahmad, secretary-general, Sqay Federation of India, said, “Many top players didn’t participate in the Federation Cup because of the timing of the event. That’s why other players may have won medals. Please email me the results… I will get them cross-checked.”
GNDU AMRITSAR HOSTS BEACH CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PENCAK SILAT, FIELDS TWO TEAMS AND GETS REQUIRED POINTS TO LIFT MAKA TROPHY
TUG-OF-WAR
Punjabi University, Patiala, which has won the MAKA Trophy six consecutive times (2012 to 2017) is in a tug of war with GNDU, literally, for the prestigious trophy. Of the 88,400 points they have garnered, more than one-fifth are in tug of war. They have organised the indoor, outdoor and beach national tug of war championships, the venue for the last tournament being Talwandi Sabo in Punjab.