Teams from over 75 schools in the city battled it out at the Oxford Dictionary Quiz conducted by the Oxford University Press recently. Words like euphoria, serendipity and quixotic were being thrown around the hall during the prelims. Following this six finalists got into the heated battle for the title.
With over 300 students, teachers and parents cheering on, the six teams that were named after famous contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary, went through a gruelling six-round finale. Finally, the team from Bala Vidya Mandir in Adyar emerged the winners of the competition, albeit with a very tight lead over the runners up. The team comprised Sadhana Smriti of Adyar and Karthi Srinivasan of Besant Nagar. They were presented with a trophy that resembled a dictionary, made out of silver.
The winners were presented with certificates and prizes by the quizmaster Adittya Nath Mubayi and IIT Madras Professor Shreesh Chandra Chaudary.
Sadhana Smriti, whose team emerged as the winner, when asked about their preparation, said, “Our effort was really extempore and we had no preparation before the finals.” Karthi Srinivasan said, “Our school has a strong focus on extracurricular activities and we have clubs for debates and quiz.”
The competition, which was going pretty even between the top three teams till the penultimate round, shifted in favour of Sadhana and Karthi’s team, in spite of them not attempting a single question in the round. The other teams, which attempted the questions in the last buzzer round lost out on the negative marking. When quizzed whether there was any strategy involved regarding their decision to not attempt any questions in the final round, Sadhana said, “No strategy, we just figured that we were in a decent position and we didn’t want to spoil it by answering questions we weren’t sure of and get negative marking.”
The teams participating in the finals were all given prizes and the teams that emerged in the top three were from Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Chetpet and DAV Boys School, Mogappair. The trophy was presented to the winning team in a ceremony held after the quiz.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / November 11th, 2013