INVICTUS ’23 x Sports

"I believe in giving more than 100% on the field, and I don't really worry about the result if there's great commitment on the field. That's victory for me." ~ Mahendra Singh Dhoni

And the magic of sports began from the first day of the Invictus itself. Starting with some big games like Basketball, Cricket and Football, the next 8 days covered Athletics, Badminton, Chess, Hockey, Squash, Swimming, Table tennis, Tennis, Throwball and Volleyball.

Chess – The Chess tournament ended on a dramatic note with Karwar Institute of medical sciences in 1st place followed by KMC Manipal in 2nd and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in 3rd place. The players demonstrated exceptional skill and strategy in their gameplay, making it a thrilling and intense competition to watch. Among the notable players Rohit Mahajan, board prize winner from KMC Manipal went unbeaten through the tournament. Both KMC and Karwar teams were unbeaten throughout the tournament.

Badminton – The badminton women’s teams gave an enthralling fight. As the tournament progressed, the level of play only seemed to get better, with players pushing themselves to their absolute limits in a bid to come out on top. KMC Mangalore won 1st place while KIMS Bangalore came in as runners-up. From the KMC team Muskan, Ananya, Sneha, and Janavi put up a good show all the way to the semis.

In Men’s Badminton 1^st place was bagged by SDMC and 2^nd place was bagged by KMC Mangalore.

Athletics had a vast array of events. All the participants showed the required physical fitness, speed, agility, strength, and endurance. It was a joy for audience to witness and participants were competitive enough to give each other a hard time winning titles.

Swimming – For a 3 day long slot, the sport had a vast array of events enlisted as follows 25 m butterfly men, 100 m breaststroke men, 50 m breaststroke men, 4*25m medley relay men, 4*50 m freestyle relay men, 100m breaststroke women, 50 m breaststroke women, 100 m butterfly men, 100 m Butterfly women, 4*25 m medley relay women, 4*50 m freestyle relay women, 200m freestyle men, 200m freestyle women 50m butterfly men, 25m breaststroke men, 25m breaststroke women, 100m backstroke women, 4*25 m mixed medley relay, 4*25 m freestyle relay men, 4*25 m freestyle relay women, 50 m freestyle Women, 50 m freestyle Men, 50 m backstroke Women, 25 m backstroke Women, 100 m freestyle Women, 4*50 mixed free relay. The event witnessed a large number of participation and all the participants gave a tough and beautiful fight.

Thrilling display of athleticism and skills was seen, as some of the best players competed in a winner takes all Tennis tournament. Players competed in both Singles and Doubles, with ever growing stakes as the competition progressed. The matches themselves were a true showcase of the players’ talents, with lightning-fast serves, incredible footwork, and strategic shots that kept the audience guessing at every turn. Players pushed themselves to their physical and mental limits, diving for balls and making miraculous saves to stay in the game.

In Men’s Singles Srinivasan Kannan (KIMS) beat Abhay Mohan (KMC Mangalore) in the finals by a score of 7-5 and 6-4. Aayushmaan Rathi of KMC manipal won the bronze by defeating Vinayak Nigam (KMC Manipal)  by a score of 6-3.

In Men’s Doubles KMC Mangalore’s  Abhay Mohan and Krishna Sai V won the gold by beating Chirag Bhojwani and Vinayak Nigam (KMC Manipal) in the finals by a score of 7-6 and 6-4. R. Aditya Venkateshwar and Adith Bondugula (KMC Mangalore) won the Bronze.

Coming to the Women’s Singles,  Dr. Nayanika Reddy (KMC Mangalore) won the Gold with Nidhi Parcha (KMC Manipal) being the 1^st runner up and Prakriti Yadav (MCODS Manipal) being the 2^nd runner up.

The Throwball tournament saw a thrilling display of teamwork, skill, and athleticism, as teams from all over places came together to compete for the championship title.

PSGIMSR (Abhinaya S, Sandhya, Sakshi Somani, Nandhitha, Angitha, Clare, Darshini, Sowmya V, Sowmya S) bagged the first prize. 2^nd prize was won by PIMS (Gaddam Rithika Reddy, Lydia Florence K, Beula B K, Monica S, Anusuya V, Subhashini SK, Narmadha P, SNEGHA R S, Ramya P, Rega Priya S).

This Invictus season the almost breakneck speed of Table Tennis to and fros left the crowd stunned at Marena. In women’s team event, MCODS Manipal (Ritika Batra, Stutipriya, Aditi Sinha, Meriam Pothen) won the gold with KMC Mangalore (Roshna Narayan, Sanchita Chawala, Preksha Yadav, Manasa k Shet, Dishi Agarwal) being the runner ups. In the Singles Event Ritika Batra won the Gold and Stutipriya the Silver, both of them representing MCODS Manipal.

Men’s Table Tennis was held over 2 formats; teams and individual. In teams, MCODS placed 1st while KMC Manipal came 2^nd. In individual, Mishal Dilawar came 1^st (MCODS), Arunabh Sisodia (KMC Manipal came 2^nd, while Dr. Utkarsh Bharadwaj and Anshuman Dev Choudhary shared 3^rd place

The atmosphere was electric, with the roar of crowd and the ball thundering against the wall as the intense energy of the Squash tournament created an unforgettable experience. In Men’s tournament KMC Manipal’s very own Devesh Jindal bagged the Gold, followed by Ajay Sharma (KMC Mangalore) winning the Silver and Tejas Arya (KMC Mangalore) winning the Bronze.

In women’s tournament both podium spots were won by the KMC Manipal with Suchi Abhishek winning Gold and Anushka Acharya winning the Silver medal.

Not to forget about E-sports. The segment is new to the fest and participants from various colleges flocked up to participate in games like CODM, WWE and FIFA. The online game mode was fierce in competition, with participants showing of their skills, quick reflexes, strategic thinking, and excellent hand-eye coordination. The atmosphere was intense and electric, with players and spectators alike fully engaged in the competition.

Sharada court was filled with a palpable energy as the teams stepped onto the court, ready to face each other in an intense game of Volleyball. As the ball went into the air it was anyone’s game and only one team could have won it all, and this year the team that bagged the Gold in Men’s event was HIMS and the silver was won by MGMC.

In the women’s event SSMC Thumkur won the 1^st prize and KMC Mangalore the 2^nd prize.

Hockey – In Men’s hockey, the finals were by far the most exciting aspect of the tournament. KMC Mangalore and KMC Manipal battled it out on the field, with neither team scoring during the game. The entire tournament was decided via penalties, which KMC Mangalore won beating KMC Manipal 2-0. The MVP went to Mukul Gupta of KMC Manipal

Basketball – As always the basketball women’s matches continue to leave audiences agape and at the edge of their seats. The KMC Manipal A team, defending their winning streak once again placed 1st, with KMC Mangalore girls not far behind in 2nd place. Smriti Vemula from the Manipal team was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) while Ananya Gupta from KMC Mangalore was DPOT. Both girls truly gave a stellar performance.

In Men’s basketball, the KMC Manipal team had a stellar performance as usual; bagging 1^st place. Losing by a narrow margin, MGMC came 2^nd place, having performed admirably. The MVP was given to Anirudh Venkatesh, captain of the KMC Manipal team, while the DPOT was given to Saket of MGMC

Football – The KMC Manipal A team won against Father Muller Medical College, in the Football men’s finals. With Parth Gill as the top scorer. Abhinandan Jangid and Somansh Gupta put on a great show in the goal, earning them the title of the Best goalkeeper. And finally, Satyajeet Rakh took the title of MVP for the match.

The football women’s matches saw PSGIMSR in 1st place, KMC Mangalore in 2nd and the KMC Manipal A team not far behind in 3rd place. Hanine Hassan took the title of the Best goalkeeper

Cricket – KMC Manipal took 1st place in the Cricket tournament as well, in a well-fought match against KVG medical college who came in 2nd. The trophy came back home after a very long wait and whoever witnessed the play and celebration of the entire team and sports comm can say that was well hard earned and the other teams did gave an incredible competition. The notable players were Kaushik Bin for best batsman, Abhijay Awasthi as the MVP and Pavan Yadav for best bowler.

Photography: Pranav Venugopal, Ayush Rana, Pranay Jain, Manas Agarwal, Bhavya Bhatia, Naina Gupta, Pavan Krishnan, Arnav Agarwal, Hasmita Ganesuni, Devansh Dhankad, Tanishq, Samir Gulati, Shubhangi Mishra, Pranav Bansal, Tanishq Yadav, Medha, Shubh Garg, Ayeshani Mishra  The Editorial Board KMC
Writer: Adish Joshi, Mariyah Haji, Akarsh Sinha, The Editorial Board KMC
Edited & Uploaded by: Sourabh Singh, The Editorial Board KMC