It is aptly said that the quench to do something different drives the creation of trends for many to follow. The seeds to set one such trend in SP Jain, Dubai campus were sown in March 2016. What followed were a couple of meetings and endless efforts of the Corporate Relations Team and the students of Jan 2016 intake to materialise the first ever Inter-Corporate Table Tennis Tournament in SP Jain.
The morning of 15th April, 2016 witnessed some heated table tennis matches in the premises of SP Jain by the gurus of the corporate world. Teams from Dubai’s leading corporates like Agility Logistics, African + Eastern, Stanley Black & Decker, Danzas DHL, Al Tayer Group, Dunia Finance, Grenke, Network International, Aditya Birla Group and Emirates Money among others participated in the tournament. An enthusiastic students’ team from SP Jain also joined these teams.
The event commenced with an opening act and band performance by our students that really electrified the atmosphere and set the tone with high energy. Prof Christopher – Campus head of Dubai welcomed the participants and addressed the audience and followed by Chandrasekhar Singh – General Manager, Corporate Relations holding the captain’s meet where the respective team captains were called on to the stage and shared their ‘one-line victory mantra’ for the contest.
This was followed by Dr Preeta – Dean (MGB) holding the ‘draw of lots’ that determined the playing order of the day and then followed action-packed and thrilling knock out matches where each team played a total of three matches (two singles and one doubles) against the opponent. Team Agility Logistics and Team S P Jain fought their way to the finals and the team of S P Jain students emerged winners! The brilliant coordination, sharp shot selection, lightning quick reflexes and fast paced rallies of all the teams were a delight for the audience. To add to the flavour of the day, there were melodious singing performances by two of our talented MGB students.
The tournament not only demonstrated true competitive spirit among the participants but also acted as an instrument for networking with the people in the industry and reiterating the SP Jain Brand. Last but not the least, each one who played that day is a true winner!
The parting lines from the top two teams were:
“Whatever we do, we do it from the heart. So was the game we played. Thank you S P Jain for organising such a good game.”- Jilius Noronha (Credit Manager, Agility), Winner
“Thank you for making this Friday an eventful one. The game was good and the best thing was I met new people from other companies.”- Team African + Eastern, Runners-up