Sporting Issues

The Sports Day this year has been deferred by 10 days, to February 23 (Sunday). A decision to the effect was taken this morning as members felt that February 14 – the date fixed by the AGM last year – would be “too early” and

Shekhawat (c) reminds us of the Annual Sports Day

that “we needed time to prepare”.
Raising this subject after the exercises, Shekhawat said that time was running out if we are to hold the Sports Day on schedule in another four days. “Or else, would you like to call off the event this year?” he asked.
It was also decided that this time around, the number of events will be limited to five: ‘reverse walking’, ‘balloon bursting’, ‘threading the needle’, ‘spoon race’ and ‘musical chairs’. There will be no ‘hitting the bottle’. Only bona fide members will be eligible to compete and there shall be no restrictions on the number of events one can take part in.
Another critical decision taken was that instead of three prizes to the winners in each event (as was awarded last year), there will be only two this year. The first will be a Winner’s Cup and the second, a Runner’s-Up medallion.
This follows a point of order raised by Shekhawat over the equitable sharing of prizes. “Last time some people walked away with multiple cups and medals whereas many like me went home empty-handed,” he complained. “Everyone should get a chance.”
Contentious as the issue is, it was decided that once a person emerges winner in a certain event, he/she should step aside from competing any further so that all others get a fair chance. An exception can perhaps be made for a runner-up who might like to make a bid for the Winner’s Cup later.
The last Sports Day was held in the Garden on Sunday, March 3, 2019 (see post) and from all accounts, proved to be a super success. The only dampener was that it had stretched for too long and was wrapped up in a hurry. Hence the decision to limit the events to merely five this time.

For the best part, it was an 'All Men's Day' for the exercises today

Karun Sharma:
It was the birthday of Santosh Tyagi today. Although she would be recovering from her knee operation, we kept waiting for her to surprise us with some gajaks from Meerut.

Blog Monster: Santosh Tyagi is in mourning. We are in touch with her. She cannot celebrate... barely four months after her son's demise. We are respecting her sentiments.

Siba Prasad Maitra:
I feel really sorry for the contestants of last year who could not win any prize in the sports events. Unfortunately, I won a couple of them. Tomorrow I will love to return those cups and a medal for our fellow members, looking at their disappointment even after one year. I will request our Chairman to hand over those prizes to whom he feels are the deserving persons. In fact, I have kept these cups and the medal for one year now. These should be rotated among the other members this year.