Games leap for hill schools ICSE tournaments open national window

The football team of St Augustine's School after winning the ICSE tournament

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Sep 01, 2018, Darjeeling: ICSE schools from the hills are making a mark in inter-state tournaments organised to formalise a team that will represent the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) at the National School Games.

The hill schools have traditionally been involved in inter-school events - more than 40 such tournaments are held annually - but with no further platforms to showcase their talents, representation at higher levels has been relatively low.

With the School Games Federation of Indian (SGFI) - which works under the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports - allowing the board to have a separate team at the national games, a big window of opportunity has opened for the hills.

Prakash Pradhan, member of the co-ordination committee of ICSE schools for Bengal and the northeast region, said: "The winners will compete with regional winners at the national level, after which the CISCE will form a team."

The CISCE will then organise a camp for the players ahead of the national school games.

At the regional level, St. Augustine's School (SAS) from Kalimpong on Thursday won the football tournament organised by Gems Akademia International School in Calcutta.

"Our team beat Patkai Christian School from Manipur in the finals. There were 60 teams from Bengal and the Northeast," said Youraj Rocky Chhetri, the team in-charge of SAS.

Not just SAS, Rockvale Academy from Kalimpong, too, were team champions in the U-17 girls category. The boys were runners-up in the badminton tournament hosted by South City International School in Calcutta recently.

In taekwondo, St Milarepa Academy from Sukhiapokhri was the overall winners in U-17 and U-19 category. The second spot in this competition was also taken by a Darjeeling school, Loreto Convent.

Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the CISCE, said during a recent visit to Siliguri: "We felt it necessary to encourage sports among students and provide them a chance to prove their talent at the national level."

Additional reporting by Avijit Sinha in Siliguri