Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Indian School Al Ghubra’s double success at the Times of Oman Interschool Quiz on Saturday evening came as a result of dedication and hard work over many years.
With the teams from ISG winning both the junior and senior titles at Qurum Amphitheatre, the four boys have repeated the feat their school accomplished two years ago, and naturally, they were over the moon about bringing this glory in such a manner.
The junior team of Sabyasachi Chaudhary and Bhavesh S started slowly, with their counterparts from Indian School Sohar – who ultimately finished second – blazing into an early lead as they put up 200 points on the board. Quizzes, however, are not a sprint but a marathon, and Indian School Al Ghubra came to the fore in the buzzer round, with their answers displaying a quickness of thought, steady nerves and lightning-fast reflexes, as they overtook Sohar to win the junior category of the quiz.
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“We did not expect we would win in this way,” said Bhavesh, once the quiz had ended. “In the buzzer round, you had to be fast, and it was just that we knew the answers and were not afraid to go for it. To do it in such a manner is just amazing. Once you get one answer, then your confidence grows and you feel that you can answer another one and another one.
“I am hoping my classmates will give me a treat on Sunday, but I do not think that is going to happen,” he added. “I am absolutely elated to win the quiz, and I want to thank our principal, Mrs Papri Ghosh, as well as all the teachers and our parents who supported us throughout, and of course, I want to thank my partner.”
Sabyasachi added, “Without the support of our parents this success would not have been possible, because both our parents always encouraged us to enter quizzing. We have been quizzing since we were very young and it is great to win an award on such a big stage. Before the quiz, I think it is fair to say that we were nervous, but once you are there, you just focus on the answers and that’s what we did. I would like to thank our parents, because they are the ones who organised the transport for us and made sure that we got to our practice sessions on time. It’s a great feeling to have won this, and my thanks go out to our teachers as well. We studied many topics and left no stone unturned, whether it was entertainment, science and tech, current affairs, politics, whatever it was, so that we were prepared for whatever we were asked.”
It fell to the duo of Anirudh Govil and Aditya Harish to maintain the standards their juniors had set. While ISG’s junior team started slow but ended strongly, their seniors began the quiz positively. They needed to ensure they did consistently well, due to the competition they received from Indian School Muscat – who finished second runners-up – and Indian School Darsait, who finished first runners-up.
With the senior school affair being an all-buzzer round, it was a question of who could answer both quickly and correctly. Teams would receive 20 points for the right answer, but would also be deducted 20 points if they’d gotten their answers wrong. For ISG, though, there was never a question of negative marking: they started aggressively, getting plenty of points early on, and ensured they maintained their lead.
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They were helped by Indian School Muscat rushing to answer questions before they had heard them in their entirety – which was allowed, but teams that did so would need to ensure they were confident enough to answer their questions correctly – and their wrong answers meant they were docked points on more than one occasion.
“Our school actually did this two years ago so we are very happy to have followed in the footsteps of our seniors,” said Anirudh Govil.
“It is an honour to bring such glory to our school once again, and I want to congratulate my partner as well as our junior team who did so well. This is an achievement that belongs to all of us. I really want to thank God and my parents, as well as all the teachers who helped us at quizzing. My partner and I have been quizzing for many years now, so it is great to win something on this stage.”
Aditya Harish added, “I want to thank everyone in the school, as well as my parents, for helping us with this achievement. We did not expect to have won it in such an amazing manner, it truly feels great and we are overjoyed. This is truly an awesome achievement.”
The Times of Oman Interschool Quiz and its Arabic counterpart – Al Shabiba’s Musabakat Bayn Madaris – are organised by Orbit Events in collaboration with the two publications’ parent company, Muscat Media Group.
