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Students from IIT Kharagpur have given a stellar performance in the state athletics championship. The students have won two gold, one silver and two bronze in the recently concluded 69th West Bengal Athletics State Meet 2019 held at Salt Lake stadium.

Manav Singh, a 2nd-year student at the Dept. of Mining Engineering clinched IIT Kharagpur’s first-ever State Gold in the event High Jump clearing the jump 1.77 in the Men under-20 category. The students won one more Gold in the Men’s under-20 category in the event 4x100m Relay. In the 4x400m Relay of Men’s under-20 category, the Institute’s team finished second in a nail-biting race on the final day of the Meet giving the first state athletics Silver of the Institute. The women’s teams giving a good fight till the end won two Bronze 4x400m and 4x100m Relay races in the under-20 category.

Talking about this feat, Manav Singh the Gold medal winner, pointed out how he changed his usual life of being an IITian to that of being a state-level champion. “In the summers this time instead of industrial internship I opted for practice sessions at IIT Kharagpur’s Technology Students Gymkhana. Sun or rain, morning or evening you would have seen us practicing under our coach Pranab Sarkar.”

On being asked about creating a balance between IIT’s academic requirements and rigorous sports practice schedule, Manav admitted his initial hindrances which he was able to overcome within a month with help from peers, trainer, and professors. 

Talking about the performance of the students Athletics in-Charge at IIT Kharagpur’s Technology Students Gymkhana Shri Pranab Sarkar said, “The students, both boys and girls are really doing well in athletics in the last three years. This is not only in the State Athletics Championship of Bengal but also the Inter IIT sports meet and Sangram sports meet. In what was just our third appearance in the State Meet, IIT Kharagpur students bagged two gold and several other medals.”

He further added, “The students believe that highly academic achievers group would be no exception if they pursue a specific training program and they will have an equal advantage in developing athletic ability. The high academic achievers have also proved that they can show their athletic prowess if they get the opportunity and appropriate facility. Such perception may discard the age-old myth that academic achievement and sports performance can’t sit together.’

IIT’ kharagpur student’s (Athletics men and women) are really doing very well last three years not only the State Athletics Championship of Bengal but also the Inter IIT sports meet and sangram sports meet. IIT kharagpur won their first-ever gold medal in the State Athletics Championship, at the Salt Lake Stadium.In what was just our third appearance in the State Meet, IIT Kharagpur bagged two gold, two silver and one bronze in men team and two bronzes in women team. The IIT kharagpur student’s refuses that highly academic achievers group is no exception if they pursue a specific training program, they will have an equal advantage in developing athletic ability. The high academic achievers have also proved that they can show their athletic prowess if the found opportunity and appropriate facility. Such finding may discard the age-old myth “academic achievement and sports performance can’t sit together.”

The sports graph at IIT Kharagpur is set for an upward trend with the feat of the students in a tournament competing with professional athletes. While the IITs are known for academic and research excellence, there is a lack of knowledge about the holistic and inclusive student life through extra-academic activities. Majority of the students are engaged in sports, socio-cultural, fine arts or co-curricular techno-management activities. Sports, in particular, has received significant patronage at IIT Kharagpur in recent times.

“We have often observed that the youth who adopt one or more sports activities show improved academic performance, robust work-life balance and overall quality of life,” opined Officiating Director Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya. “We have been strategizing several programmes to elevate interest of students in sports and professional training required for it.

The Technology Students Gymkhana which is the nerve-centre of student life at the Institute receives generous funding from the Institute for infrastructure, training, practice, events etc. IIT Kharagpur has allocated ₹10 crore for upgradation of sports facilities before the Inter-IIT 2019 scheduled in December this year. Further to this, the Institute has roped in professional coaches for physical training, nutrition planning, grooming for resilience building, competitive attitude and self-motivation of students. 

IIT Kharagpur has also signed an MoU with Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad to promote health and wellbeing within the scope of academics and extra-academic activities and setting up of Sports Academy is under consideration.

State Athletics Meet Individual performance of the players who gave their personal bests and near to Inter IIT record timings/distances:

E. Jagadeesh: 400m in 49.44sec, ranked 4th
Sanat Kailash: High Jump of 1.85m, ranked 4th
Men 4x400m Relay in 3:26 min, ranked 4th
Manas Patidar: 400m in 52.4sec, ranked 6th
E. Madhuri: 400m in 1:13 min, ranked 5th

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

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