Monday, February 02, 2009
Soccer at its best...
In my very first post on the blog I had mentioned briefly of a moment when I was in my 5th semester of my Undergraduate studies and our year won the Inter-year footbal tournament. I would rate that moment as one of my memorable moments of my hostel life in India as ofcourse there were other memorable moments too that I can't forget ;)
I always wanted to write something on this particular event but somehow it was just skipping my mind but last week when I met one of my undergrad friends after a very long time, probably after four and a half years who was also a member of the winning team I couldn't resist holding myself. It is so astonishing that even after years when you discuss about a particular event or a happening that had brought so much of joy and happiness (even for a very little while) everything comes in front of you like it just had happened yesterday. Me and my friend spoke about that match like it happened recently only! I will try to name all the members of my team and in case I miss someone I really apologize for that and I want to make it clear that it's just my weak memory that could not gather all the names. So here goes the list......
I always wanted to write something on this particular event but somehow it was just skipping my mind but last week when I met one of my undergrad friends after a very long time, probably after four and a half years who was also a member of the winning team I couldn't resist holding myself. It is so astonishing that even after years when you discuss about a particular event or a happening that had brought so much of joy and happiness (even for a very little while) everything comes in front of you like it just had happened yesterday. Me and my friend spoke about that match like it happened recently only! I will try to name all the members of my team and in case I miss someone I really apologize for that and I want to make it clear that it's just my weak memory that could not gather all the names. So here goes the list......
1. Anuj Sharma (Mechanical - LEET) 8. Naveen (Production)
2. Deepak Gadi (Industriall) - GK 9. Aman Grewal (Industrial)
3. Simardeep Singh (Computers) 10. Karambir Kalsi (Industrial) - Cpt.
4. Vineet Singh (Computers - LEET) 11. Harpreet Virdi (Production)
5. Jasjit Singh Mann (Mechanical - LEET) 12. Vikram Minhas (Mechanical)
6. Prabhat Dogra (Computers - LEET) 13. Chandersekhar (Mechanical)
2. Deepak Gadi (Industriall) - GK 9. Aman Grewal (Industrial)
3. Simardeep Singh (Computers) 10. Karambir Kalsi (Industrial) - Cpt.
4. Vineet Singh (Computers - LEET) 11. Harpreet Virdi (Production)
5. Jasjit Singh Mann (Mechanical - LEET) 12. Vikram Minhas (Mechanical)
6. Prabhat Dogra (Computers - LEET) 13. Chandersekhar (Mechanical)
7. Daljeet Singh (Chemical - LEET)
More than anything else, it was a prestige issue not to lose from our juniors. Like in any of the Indian hostel study life every year has got their own EGO problems so were the same in ours case. We were in third year and we had our ego clashes with the 2nd year guys and defeating them in the playing ground would just give an immense satisfaction to any of us. Nothing can beat that feeling of showing someone low!! Most of the good soccer playing members from 4th year were on 6-months Industrial Training so it was a cake walk for us to go through the 4th year team. The next challenge was to defeat the first year team which had so many good players and moreover they were full of enthusiasm. I still remember very clearly the game went down the wire till very end...it went to penalty shootouts and then went to Sudden death. The game was 1-1 during the end of full time and we were equally placed after 5 penalty shootouts and I was one of the culprits to miss a penalty because of which the game went on to Sudden Death. The savior for us was none other than my very close friend - Deepak Gadi. I chose him to be the Goal Keeper for the penalty shootouts and he saved the one at Sudden death while I don't remember who was the one who scored for us. The moment Deepak saved the goal we were through to the finals and everyone got so elated that Deepak was picked up by all the guys who were supporting us and gave him a good ride!! I have not seen anyone so passionate about sports and giving more than 100% each time he steps to play any game. By seeing his stature and physique no one could guess that he's just incredible in any of the games one could ever imagine!!
As expected the finals was between us and the 2nd year guys. The 2nd year team was led by a guy called Jitender...he was famous as Jeetu in the hostel. I have no denying the fact that he was a very good sportsperson, a lot better than the average. Among my college crowd I was a very good 100M Sprint runner and there were only two guys I was afraid of...one was Aijaz (an incredible sportsperson again) and the other one was Jeetu. I participated in our College's Annual Athletic Meet twice (100M dash), both times I was the 1st runner up...first time defeated by Aijaz and the 2nd time defeated by Jeetu....damn it :(
Anyways coming back to the point, it was a perfect opportunity for us to prove our point and give an answer straight to their face so we were all charged up for the game. The whole game was played in high spirits and was very competitive. If I am not wrong the first half was levelled at 1 each and it was the second half only that we scored two more goals and won the game easily by 3-1. It was the goal by Simardeep Singh in the 2nd half that gave us the lead 2nd time and gave us a momentum to carry on and win the game. My team played really well, gave their best and I am really thankful to each of the members to contribute their best and achieve such a high that can't be explained by just a mere post on the blog. It's really hard to have a feel of the emotions and happiness that we all went through by just reading this but I am sure all the members that I have named above if come across this post of mine could again refresh themselves, go back so many years and feel the importance of that particular moment. Rest laters!
As expected the finals was between us and the 2nd year guys. The 2nd year team was led by a guy called Jitender...he was famous as Jeetu in the hostel. I have no denying the fact that he was a very good sportsperson, a lot better than the average. Among my college crowd I was a very good 100M Sprint runner and there were only two guys I was afraid of...one was Aijaz (an incredible sportsperson again) and the other one was Jeetu. I participated in our College's Annual Athletic Meet twice (100M dash), both times I was the 1st runner up...first time defeated by Aijaz and the 2nd time defeated by Jeetu....damn it :(
Anyways coming back to the point, it was a perfect opportunity for us to prove our point and give an answer straight to their face so we were all charged up for the game. The whole game was played in high spirits and was very competitive. If I am not wrong the first half was levelled at 1 each and it was the second half only that we scored two more goals and won the game easily by 3-1. It was the goal by Simardeep Singh in the 2nd half that gave us the lead 2nd time and gave us a momentum to carry on and win the game. My team played really well, gave their best and I am really thankful to each of the members to contribute their best and achieve such a high that can't be explained by just a mere post on the blog. It's really hard to have a feel of the emotions and happiness that we all went through by just reading this but I am sure all the members that I have named above if come across this post of mine could again refresh themselves, go back so many years and feel the importance of that particular moment. Rest laters!
