KOCHI: The 17th edition of The Hindu Young World Quiz held here on Saturday witnessed two contrasting finals in the junior and senior categories.
While Shan Harold and Jeswin Jose of Assisi Vidyanikethan Public School won a cliffhanger in the junior category as they edged past their rivals Kevin Joseph and Athul Biju from Gregorian Public School by 10 points in the last round, in the contest of seniors, Sreeram Madhavan and Paul Binu from Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Poochatty, coasted home comfortably, ending up with a 38-point gap between their immediate rivals Paul Philip Mathew and R. Dev Raj from Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Eroor.
Also, the contest of juniors proved to be a low-scoring affair, with the winners amassing 90 points, whereas seniors scored in the buzzer-driven rounds, with the winners getting 187 points even as the first and second runners-up too scored ‘centuries’ notching up 149 and 106 points.
The senior finals got off to a flier, with the eventual winners and the first runner-up cracking the image of Mohanlal hidden behind the grids in the very first round even before they could get a clear sight of the actor. They scored 36 and 42 points respectively, ending up with 93 points and 87 points at the end of the first round.
That was the only round in which the champions trailed, after which they simply sped away working up a lead of 51 points in the penultimate round before the rivals reduced it in the last round. While the champions got the answers right every time they went for the buzzer, the first runner-up piled up a few negative marks after getting the answers wrong on hitting the buzzer, which proved to be costly in the final count.
Generally, the senior teams were so good that quiz master V.V. Ramanan could pass on only a couple of unanswered questions to the audience.
In the junior category finals, a tie-breaker was needed to separate the third and fourth placed teams after the teams from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala, and Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, ended up with 50 points each. The former edged ahead after it came up with the right answer Bruce Wayne for the alternate identity of Batman.
As usual, the prelims to find the top six finalists in both junior and senior categories proved as exciting as ever as participants after submitting their written answers vied with one another as the quiz master, ahead of revealing the answer keys, threw the questions at them, helping them walk away with goodies.
The event was presented by Camlin Mechanical Pencils, while Abad Nucleus Mall was the venue partner. The national gift sponsors were BSA Lady Bird and Hercules. BSNL was the regional partner and Royal Bakers the snacks partner.
Fastrack (Abad Nucleus Mall), Voylla Fashion Jewellery, DC Books, and MAX were the prize sponsors. Planet Boomerang, Line Trail, Top Zone, and Abad Food Court were the goodie sponsors.
