The first ever LUMS SportsFest 2011 took place at Lahore University of Management Sciences from March 26 to 29. The sports festival was organised by the Sports at LUMS (SLUMS) with the assistance from Department of Sports, Wellness and Recreation (SWR).
The event was a big hit as it attracted huge crowd with participants from all over the country. The four-day event took place at the state-of-the-art sports facilities at LUMS, including newly-refurbished indoor Syed Maratib Ali Sports Complex. The complex has synthetic flooring, providing the best platform for a sports enthusiast in the country.
For the first time in Pakistan, there was a massive turnout from the female players. Schools such as LGS, Choueifat and universities, especially NCA and Greenwich University Karachi, sent a large contingent of female players to participate in the event.
Indoor football was the major attraction as it was introduced for the first time and the game was played on the purposely-built synthetic courts. Sports included were tapeball 8-a-side cricket, 6-a-side outdoor football, netball, basketball, tennis, table tennis and badminton.
Apart from games, social activities were arranged in the form of Chill Zones to make sure the participant interacts with others and learn from others’ experiences. The event ended with formal dinner and official closing ceremony. The chief guest on the occasion was the former PCB Chairman and former foreign secretary Ambassador Shaharyar Khan.
He talked about how one should be gracious in their defeat and learn from their loses. This momentum was carried on by his son Dr. Ali Khan who is the patron of SLUMS. Medals, shields and trophies were distributed among the participants. The overall female school winner was LGS Ghalib Market, male school winner was Beaconhouse Defence and University Champion was FAST Lahore.
Cricket: Neither the scorching heat of the sun nor the mosquitoes could steal away the passion with which the participating teams played. The semi-finals of the schools cricket event witnessed two teams from Aitchison battling it out. The junior team led by Shahmeer chased a total of 75 in six overs and left their seniors wondering where they went wrong.
Beaconhouse Defence shocked the Professional “TAPIAS” from the Defence Degree College and advanced to the finals. The final saw BDC overpowering the junior team from Aitchison by scoring 76 in six overs and successfully defending it.
In the 1st semi-final of Universities event, PAC from Gujranwala proved to be too good against Acute Business College and successfully defended a total of 68 in 6 overs. In the second semi-final Szabist successfully defended a total of 51 in 6 overs against Greenwich University from Karachi. In the final, Szabist defended a total of 65 runs and were crowned as the champions.
Basketball: The girls basketball final for schools was the first final of the day, and LGS Defence and LGS Ghalib Market were keen to set the tone. With the winner taking home the gold as well as bragging rights, neither team wanted to concede defeat. LGS GM took the early lead, but their rivals soon caught up. Spurred on by a late surge by the team captain, LGS GM stood victorious at the closing whistle.
In girls basketball final for universities, LUMS faced a daunting adversary in the Green Knights of Kinnaird College. KC took possession at the whistle, and even though the LUMS girls fought valiantly there was no looking back for the Green Knights, who took a decisive victory in the 40 minutes match.
The final of the men’s basketball tournament between FAST Peshawar and FAST Lahore. Both teams played with swagger and skill, with the match going back-and-forth for the first 20 minutes. FAST Peshawar had the edge in agility with the entire team delivering on no-look passes and breaking ankles with vicious cross-overs. In the end, the Peshawar boys displayed great coordination, and beat their rivals 39-28, ending their unbeaten record in the pool rounds by winning the gold – the first team to ever do so.
Tennis: Tennis gave sportsfest plenty to cheer about. In the universities draw, players from LSE out showed the rest in the round robin with Muaz and Sameh making a comfortable way through to the semis. Harris (LUMS) and Daniyal (SKANNS), on the other hand, had some tough encounters before finally winning enough points to reach the semis. In the semis, Muaz continued his good form to reach the finals by beating his university fellow Sameh. In the other semi, Daniyal crushed Harris to face Muaz in the final. The final, however, proved to be an easy win for the high standards of Muaz as he won 6-2, 6-4.
The schools draw happened to be relatively more fierce and competitive. Boys from Alma (Haider, Hamza) Aitchson (Bilal Shafi, Hamid, Arssal, Daniyal, Asad) and Garrison (Imad, Adnan, Usman) starred the show with maximum participation. Haider, Hamza, Imad and Saad booked places in the semis.
Imad and Saad beat Hamza and Haider respectively after a tough fight to reach the grand finale. The finale proved to be the biggest encounter of the tournament. The match went on for 2 hours putting up a quality show of passionate tennis for the crowd. Finally it proved to be Saad’s day who grabbed the ultimate glory 7-6, 7-5.
The writer is vice president of sports at LUMS
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