The Spirit of Sportsmanship: Inter-House Sports Competition at AUW

Aziza Roshani, Nusaiba Binte Zakaria & Sonam Euphel Choden

Source: Asian University for Women’s Facebook page.

The Inter-House Sports Competition took place once again, with even more participants and better preparations. The first week of February began with sports competitions among seven houses of AUW students. The inter-house sports competition at AUW is a house-to-house competition, and all students are divided into seven houses: Justice, Joy, Courage, Imagination, Truth, Service and Wisdom. This event is one of the highlights of the athletics calendar at AUW and celebrates the best in physical aptitude, skills, and sportsmanship that the university has to offer. Over the course of time, the students get to show their sportsmanship and also display the result of their Physical Education classes. This year’s events included Basketball, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Badminton Single, Badminton Double, Karate Kumite 45 to 49 kg, Karate Kumite 50 to 55 kg, Kumite 56 to 65 kg, Karate Kata, Carom, 100m, 200m, Shot Put and Long Jump, and Cheerleading. Jophen Lama, one of the winners of the Basketball competition from Imagination house and an Access Academy student, said that she is happy not because she won but because she understood how teamwork can bring victory. Dechen Wangmo of Truth house who was part of the cheerleading team pointed out that she now knows how cheerleading is done and is overwhelmed to have got the chance to participate in cheerleading and unexpectedly winning. According to Ms. Maria Chakraborty, Associate Director of Physical Education and Karate Instructor at AUW, the Inter-House Sports Competition was organized in order to develop sportsmanship, unity, and confidence among the students. This year's event was quite fruitful, with better leadership and punctuality compared to last year. Nonetheless, some challenges still lingered. Some students were not able to participate in the games since this event clashed with Asian University for Women Model United Nations 2019, one of the biggest events held at AUW. Moreover, it was difficult to find space to hold the competitions. This would not have been a problem if AUW had its own ground for sports. Ms. Maria voiced that AUW used to have some of the best sports teams in Chittagong when it had its own grounds. However, now that there is a lack of space and practice, the sports committee and instructors have no options but to use the resources available in AUW.