The Hindu : Sport : Thrissur emerges as the new champion

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Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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Thrissur emerges as the new champion

Special Correspondent

— Photo: S. Gopakumar

THE CHAMPIONS: The Thrissur district team, which won the overall title in the 51st Kerala School Games in Kottayam on Sunday.

KOTTAYAM: It is not only for Thrissur’s emergence as the new champion of the overall championship trophy that the competitions of the team disciplines of the 51st Kerala School Games would be remembered in the years to come. It will be also for a few other achievements and the end to the uninterrupted five-year reign at the top enjoyed by Thiruvananthapuram.

Thiruvananthapuram’s surprise dethroning was the result of its failure to retain its hold over the kho-kho, ball badminton and badminton titles in the girls’ under-19 section and the football crown that it had annexed last year in the boys’ u-19 division.

Its only silver lining being the sixth straight titles achieved by its u-19 and 17 boys’ tennis teams, not to leave out the fifth consecutive win recorded by its girls’ u-19 and 17 sides, also in tennis.

While it lost as many as four titles before being displaced from the top, the only new additions to Thiruvananthapuram’s kitty this time around was the boys’ u-19 ball badminton and the boys’ u-17 cricket gold medals.

Besides Thiruvananthapuram, the three-day event also witnessed two other districts retaining a title each for the sixth consecutive year.

These were achieved by Palakkad in girls’ u-17 kho-kho and Kottayam in the girls’ u-19 basketball.

Impressive win

Kottayam, which was expected to dominate the show as the home team, but could finish only a poor fifth in the overall standings, had one more impressive win in the girls’ u-17 basketball which marked its supremacy in the event for the fifth time in six years.

A similar record was also achieved by Palakkad (boys’ u-19 kho-kho and girls’ u-17 ball badminton), Thrissur (boys’ u-19 basketball), Wayanad (boys’ u-17 table tennis), Kozhikode (boys’ u-17 badminton), Ernakulam (girls’ u-17 volleyball) and Kannur (girls’ u-19 handball), thus ensuring continuity of their dominance in these events.

Ever since the competitions were regrouped on a revenue-district basis (these were held on an educational-district basis till 2001-02), the team disciplines were spread over three days here than the usual two.

But still, there were no shortage of complaints regarding the schedule as most teams continued to oppose the practice of packing events in the u-17 and 19 events into a single day.

Said a coach, rather agitatedly, “what is the use of having all these competitions packed into a single day and forcing players to take part in at least three matches on the same day when a spare day had been included into the Games schedule?”

The better way would be to start the competitions of both the u-17 and 19 sections on the first day itself and complete it on the now newly-included third day.

The point has its own merit, as players too have consistently complained over the years about their inability to perform at their best especially when asked to play three tough matches on a single day.

Interestingly, the Education Minister, M.A. Baby, has now promised to look into the matter and do the needful.

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, the Minister said: “yes, we are aware of the problems being faced by one and all. Definitely, it will be looked into seriously prior to the conduct of the Games next year.”

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