athletics – The KGP Chronicle

The Yogic Avabodha – Atal

The word ‘Avabodha’ in Sanskrit is referred to someone who possess an awakened consciousness of soul. As the motto of the institute says Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam which means Excellence in Action is Yoga, we have an Alumnus who imbibed the thought as the basics of his existence. The spirit of a warrior, the body of iron and a heart of gold, yes we are talking about an explorer of life, Mr. Atal Agarwal, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, who graduated in 2017 and became one among the few IITians who represented Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) as an Alum in the prestigious title of Ironman athlete competition.

He finished the legendary race – one of the most challenging endurance athletics activities on earth that included swimming in open water – for 2.4 miles, biking for 112 miles, and running for 26.2 miles in a continuous series, all within a day without any halt. The Vice President of his batch, he taught himself how to swim last year after a near-to-death experience in Lake Tahoe. A philanthropist by nature, he went through a phase of depression and overcame it by taking on challenges in athletics.

An inspiration to all the Kgpians, his journey has been impeccable when it comes to the actual understanding of what you have to offer life rather than what life offers you. Atal’s mission is to take humanity to the 22nd century with the concerns and awareness as healthy beings and considers the health of humans to be his utmost priority.

He actively engages in activities about the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial aspects of the health of all humans and believes that the quality of human life can only be uplifted when all aspects of healthcare are integrated together, something he learned as an Indian, during his 25 years in India. Atal finished the race within 14 hrs and 43 mins during the Ironman Arizona. He is the only Ironman athlete who represented Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in such a prestigious title.

He has been influential towards his Alma Mater with generous contributions and as keen practitioner of philanthropy. He recalls that his experiences mainly from his communities like IIT KGP and his surroundings in the BurningMan taught him how to live in adversities and be an artist. His interest in athletics have taught him how to endure pain without suffering. He has also biked more than 3200 miles in America this year covering a distance equivalent to California to New York. A free spirited explorer on Mother Earth who is living his life like a dream, is an inspiration to all of us.

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By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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54th Inter IIT Sports Meet Flags Off at IIT Kharagpur

IIT Kharagpur, 15^th December: IIT Kharagpur flagged off its 54^th Inter IIT Sports Meet on 14^th December 2019. The nine-day event is co-hosted by IIT Bhubaneswar with more than 2600 students participating from 23 IITs.

The mega event held at IIT KGP is witnessing tough competition across eight games – Athletics, Basketball, Chess, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Lawn Tennis and Weightlifting while IIT Bhubaneswar is hosting four events – Volleyball, Badminton, Table Tennis and Squash. Tyra, the Royal Bengal Tigress is the mascot for the 54^th Inter IIT Sports Meet 2019.

Prof Sriman Kumar Bhattacharya, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chief Patron of the 54^th Inter IIT Sports Meet remarked on Brand IIT’s achievement in both academics and all-round ability of the students in diverse aspects and areas that sets IITs apart from other institutes. Students are the brand ambassadors and the onus is on them to keep their brand name high, he said.

12 distinguished sportspersons from KGP campus, took to lighting the torch for the ceremony. Former Skipper of Indian Women’s Cricket Team, Jhulan Goswami sent across her best wishes to the participants via voice message, saying, “I would like to congratulate all the participants who have come here today, and are going to perform. I extend my best wishes to you all, and once again, from the bottom of my heart. I shall come next time and spend some quality time with you people.” The event will be graced by sports stars like former cricket captains Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly, swimming champion Bula Choudhary and para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar among others.

Inter IIT Sports Meet started in 1961 with IIT Bombay as the first host. With the increasing number of participants, the number of disciplines in the games have also increased over the years. This year, chess has been added as a competitive event. Squash for girls has also been added as a demo event.

IIT Kharagpur has completely renovated its Sports Facilities. A new synthetic track has been built at the Jnan Ghosh Stadium. New floodlights have been also installed both at the Stadium and the Tata Steel Sports Complex. The tennis and basketball courts have been given an all-new look.

The competition has started taking shape right from day one with the march past following the flag hoisting ceremony. IIT-ISM Dhanbad secured first place in the event. Prof Rajeev Shekhar, Director, IIT-ISM Dhanbad, hoped the participants would compete with the never-dying fighting spirit.

The opening ceremony was celebrated by several professional performances including rhythmic yoga performance by Majida Khatun, second runners-up for Rhythmic Yoga at the Under-17 category for 2019 National School Games, football juggling by Amit Biswas, a young football juggler, with speech and hearing impairment and a medley of folk songs and dances across all states of India, ending with the anthem of Atletico-De-Kolkata.

Pictures – Click KGP, Inter IIT Sports Meet Facebook Page

Gold

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