Arena 2018: Done and Dusted
Written on May 28th, 2018 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}Arena, the sports fest of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, is one of
the three main fests the campus is known across India for, and,
simultaneously, is one of the best, if not the best sports meets in the
entire state of Telengana for students and youth. Arena, brilliantly
named for a sports fest, has continued to up the expectations and set
benchmarks for itself over the years since its inception. It has been
growing and allowing each and every one of its participants grow in
experience and mental strength. Its not the zeal, the organizers, the
students, nor the dedicated contender base that has made Arena one and
only; the place “where legends are born”.
Arena had been born in a campus still young. Back then, in 2013, it
was built from ground up by one Department, along with others like Dopy,
Dove, Department of Arts and Deco, that was custom made for handling
this, and only this fest. The Firewallz. They made Arena a resounding
success for the first time it was organized. There were hundreds of
participants from across various Institutions, and sports clubs. Since
then, it has grown leaps and bounds to the brand that it is now.
How much exactly Arena has grown is apparent from the fact that
earlier, turnout used to be in hundreds. Now, its in thousands. Earlier,
our own grounds and facilities were enough for the participants. Now,
facilities from outside have to be availed. Firewallz booked not one,
but two outside Cricket Grounds for the players. Prize Money has
increased by thousands, encouraging new players to try and win in the
fest tournaments. We have attracted contingents not only from all over
the state, but also all over India. There were 3,500 contenders, while
many more came to watch. Among the players, needless to say, were people
from colleges from the length and breadth of the country. We had NITs
like NIT Warangal, NIT Trichy, etc, as well as participants from IIT
Madras and IIT Kanpur among other reputed Colleges like JNTU, or Osmania
University and many more others from throughout India from all major
cities. All this has been possible because of the Nationwide name Arena
has become. Sponsors and participants this year tended to contact us,
before we contacted them so that they can further themselves for being
associated with the name of Arena, and that, in itself is quite
commendable from a campus that is as young as ours.
In Arena 2018, Chief Guest was Mr. Henry Menezes, an ex Goalkeeper
for the Indian football team, currently the CEO of Western Indian
Football Association. Pepsico, an international organization of insanely
high reputation, was the title sponsor. Other main sponsors included
the Zubi Academy, a Hyderabad based sports academy of National repute,
and the Oval grounds. Oval Grounds sponsored the Cricket grounds booked
outside campus. This year, the official Arena Pro show was by Candice
Redding, who gave an awesome performance.
Most of all, the people for whom Arena is made of and for, the sports
commnity of BPHC gave a commendable performance. The sheer dedication,
due to which the athletes and other competitors were seen in any time of
the day in the field, or in the sports rooms of the SAC, paid off, as
BPHC emerged as the single team with the highest number of collective
medals amongst any other college or association. In chess(Boys),
Tennis(team), Table Tennis(boys and girls) and Football, our campus won
Medals; Chess, Table Tennis team, and Tennis team winnning Gold, and
Table Tennis Girls and Football team winning silver medals.
One of the main attractions for Arena this year was the Inter BITS
tournament. Other than the Pilani contingent not attending, the
tournament was an overall success. Goa and Dubai sent their teams, each
team winning a few medals. Hyderabad, of course, won the highest number
of medals. The Goa contingent was huge, containing over 100 people.
In closing, Arena was a success, as always. New things were tried to
improve the experience. An app was launched and maintained solely by the
students on campus, in tandem with the website designed by the same
students, which provided live feed and other news to the attending
people. Participation was larger than ever. Organizing Committee became
more organized and vigilant themselves(they were able to secure sports
facilities, grounds with rates almost half of previous rates with their
experience.) The entire event was flawless, with almost no major hiccups
in sight. Most important of all, the those who attended had nothing but
nice things to say, that we, as a campus were able to gift them some
beautiful memories and experiences.
Article by Abhishek Roy