Date:15/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/15/stories/2008121550911700.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Palakkad hits a new high; bags overall title

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: H. Vibhu

ON CLOUD NINE: The Palakkad team, which won the overall championship in the 52nd State School Games in Chalakudy on Sunday.

CHALAKUDY: There was some pleasant surprise in tennis and the regular joy in hockey and kho-kho.

In the end, Palakkad claimed the overall team title in the 52nd Kerala State School Games at the Carmel Stadium, here on Sunday. It was Palakkad’s maiden triumph after the Games came under the revenue district format in 2002.

“We’ve done well in almost all the games and of course our under-17 girls’ tennis triumph gave a big boost to our total,” said C.S. Sunil, an official of the Palakkad team here.

Palakkad won three of the four titles at stake in hockey and kho-kho and two in ball badminton. The race was close till the final few minutes, Palakkad had even filed a protest against a rival tennis player hoping to make its position safe with some bonus points and at the end of it all, it held the trophy which mattered the most.

Palakkad finished with 156 points, two more than Thrissur, last year’s overall champion. Palakkad also topped the under-19 section, while Thrissur won the under-17 division.

Thrissur won the under-19 boys cricket title on Sunday defeating Kollam, thanks to a fine and fast 68 (31b, 5x6, 6x4) from P.M. Arjun. The host had taken the girls’ hockey title, while Palakkad bagged the trophy in the boys section.

Unsung stars

The team events which came to an end on Sunday evening, however, saw many of the stars go unsung and unnoticed. Just the names of the winning districts were handed out to the media by the organising officials.

No scores were given, no names of the players offered. Requests for detailed information saw the officials just passing the buck frequently and coming out with a load of excuses.

There was a brilliant three-goal strike by Thrissur’s diminutive K.K. Bharathan in the under-17 boys’ football final, Palakkad’s maiden triumph in the under-17 girls’ tennis, authored by Machat Jeethu Menon, and Palakkad’s R. Abhijith and Kottayam’s C.P. Aatirah’s success in chess.

But none of the names figured in the official results. One had to do a lot of running, chasing teams and players to get information.

The School Games will have a colourful opening ceremony, officially, at the Carmel Stadium here on Monday when the curtains go up for the State Schools athletics Championship.

Records will be handed out, the names of the schools behind the winning athletes and other information.

One just hopes some thought is given to bring the vibrant faces behind the team events to the fore in future.

The results (under-19): Cricket: Boys final: Thrissur 114 for three in 12 overs (P.M. Arjun 68) bt Kollam 101 for five in 12 overs.

Hockey: Boys final: Palakkad bt Malappuram 2-1. Girls final: Thrissur bt Palakkad 3-2.