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Competing
Equally & Winning!
Parikrma Children shine
at the Inter-School Athletics Meet
This year's edition of the KPMG Inter-School Athletics
Meet with more than 4,000 athletes from over 140
mainstream schools, saw Parikrma children once again
on the ascendancy and how. 13 medals - 3 gold, 5
silver and 5 bronze, 2 meet records and the U-10
Boys team championship have left us all at Parikrma
breathless. What was impressive was that our girls
got into the act and won medals and across age groups.
This year's showing was a marked improvement over
the 9 medals won last year and 3 the previous year.
No wonder then, that Parikrma was voted the "Best
Developed School", for a third year in running.
Richard from the TNT Parikrma Centre for Learning
at Koramangala, competing in the U-10 Boys events
was the most successful athlete for us with 2 gold
and 2 bronze medals. The U-10 Boys then ran a brilliant
race in the 8x50 mts relay and set a new meet record
of 1:00:08 secs, eclipsing the previous record by
more than half a second.
But it was our dream team comprising of 4 orphans
from Manipur in the U-14 Boys 4x100 mts relay that
set the stadium ablaze with a blistering 48.9 secs,
shaving off more than 1.9 secs of the old meet record.
They kept up to their billing of being the best.
Little did we know when we started Parikrma 4 years
ago that these children coming from the poorest
backgrounds would have their names etched in the
record books and in such a short time. A nurturing
environment, passion of excellence and top-class
education have combined to produce these amazing
results.
What was extremely heartening for us was the camaraderie
between our children and children from regular mainstream
schools. Friendships were made. Many of our winners
became heroes. And what is more, many children from
the good schools were keen to join Parikrma! At
the very heart of Parikrma is this vision of integration
and the breaking down of age old social and economic
divisions.
Dream Team Shatter Meet Record!
Four years ago 4 young lads teamed up to run a relay
race. That turned out to be one of the most fortituous
happenings at Parikrma.
For three years in a row this quartet has been blazing
the tracks at the Inter-school Athletics Meet. This
year was special. From the heats to semi-finals
to the finals, this team held the acendancy. In
the finals it was such a joy to watch Pouje begin
the race and run with such mechanical efficieny.
Pouje, incidentally won the Silver in the 100 mts
for U-14 Boys. He handed over the baton to Tong
Mang, who with a burst of speed went into the lead.
Tong Mang, a brilliant forward in football then
passed on the baton to Zamzei. Zam, as he is popularly
known, recently won the Governor's Award for excellence
in academics and sports. Zam anchored the most important
part of the race around the 200 mt bend and did
it with such grace and style. It was poetry in motion.
Zam then passed on the baton in a flawless exchange
to Paosonlal. Paosonlal, the captain of our football
team, then ran the race of his life. Grit and determination
writ large on his face as he crossed the line. A
new meet record had just been set. 1.9 seconds of
the old record had been shaved off.
A truly remarkable run by extraordinarly gifted
children. |
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