The 37th Annual Inter House Athletics Meet was held on 9th February 2019. However, the athletic fever began to pervade the campus well before the actual day, with athletes practicing hard every day since the day school reopened. The majority of the track and field events were held on the 31st of January and 1st and 2nd of February.

The actual meet on the 9th, began with the Chief Guest Mr. Mohammed Riyaz, Arjuna Award Winner and Former Captain of the Indian Hockey team, being welcomed by the Board of Trustees. This was followed by the march past of the athletes led by Madhav Karthikeyakannan, the Head Boy and Antara Ramkumar, the Head Girl, and by Akhil Madhavan and Saena Cama Bhalla Lal, the Games Captains. They were followed by the four houses, led by their House Captains and the School Band. The senior contingents were followed by their junior counterparts. The school ground was decked in the house colours of yellow, blue, red and green. The eye-catching decorations at the house tents were much appreciated.

Once the four houses congregated at the centre of the field, the school flag was hoisted, the games torch was lit, and the Chief Guest declared the meet open.

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Following this, the House Captains took an oath of sportsmanship in a solemn ceremony. The drill this year – ‘The Latino-Castanet Connect’, left the audience spell bound. Students of Classes 6 to 8 took to the field and enthralled every one present with their synchronized hand clapping exercises. The audience was in for another surprise when the students of Class 12 joined in later on and danced to some groovy music. It was a lovely sight which left the audience smiling and swaying. The athletic events began with the 100m dash for boys and girls of all the divisions, the 200m race for the A division and the 400m race for the B division. The athletes gave of their best in these races, showing true skill, grit and determination. These were succeeded by the 10 X 50m Shuttle Relay for Classes 3 & 4 and the widely anticipated Mixed Relay, both of which drew much cheering from the crowd. There was also a race for the Parents which followed a baton relay between the Sishya athletes and the Sishya Alumni which was won by the present students despite the gallant efforts of the champions of yesteryear.

At the end of all the events, Sutlej house emerged as the winners followed by Godavari, Narmada and Cauvery. Sutlej won the Marching Shield for both Senior boys and Senior girls. The Junior Marching Cup was won by Cauvery. The shield for the Drill was won by Sutlej and Narmada took home the shield for the best disciplined house. Leonard L. Visvaas of Cauvery and Adhiti S. Prakash of Godavari were declared the Best Athletes for the year.

As the meet came to an end amidst the strains of “Abide With Me”, all participants were left with a sense of pride at their efforts over the past few weeks, and all those present already began to look forward to the next year’s edition. As always, the Inter House Athletics Meet proved to be a memorable event.