In ancient times, war was fought on blood-stained battlefields with hardened, brave warriors laying body and soul on the line for the prize of victory over their vanquished foes. Now, battle hardened warriors fight as before though the field of battle has changed – the battlefield of sports. Sports is a discipline that brings people together, pushes the boundaries of the human mind and body – it is often the perfect expression of human excellence.
Continuing in the vein, Salesian College Siliguri Campus organised an Inter-Departmental Volleyball Tournament. Volleyball has long been a popular sport in the college and this was evident in the enthusiastic response to the tournament. Teams were built and shuffled even as the students worked hard to improve their chances in the tournament. The tournament began on the 29th of July, 2017 with the inaugural speech by Fr. (Dr.) Mathew Pulingathil (Rector) and Fr. V. Jose (Bursar) and an inaugural match held between the Department of English and Department of Commerce – a match-up in which the Department of English ultimately prevailed. This was followed by a match-up between the Department of Mass Communication and the Department of Psychology – the Department of Mass Communication emerged as the victor. Moving to the next round of match-ups, the Department of Political Science emerged as victors over the Department of Science, the Department of Sociology defeated the Department of Mass Communication and the BBA Department beat the BA General Department. In the next round of match-ups, the Department of Political Science emerged victorious over the Department of English in a match-up that was defined by immense highs and awe-inspiring moments that only sports can achieve. Similarly, the Department of Sociology defeated the BBA Department in a match filled with quality that sometimes seemed ethereal. After all the high quality and intense match-ups, the final of the tournament was held on the 4th of August between two teams that had been the best and most consistent through the tournament – the Department of Political Science against the Department of Sociology. The Department of Political Science emerged as the winners of the tournament with the Department of Sociology as runners-up.
The tournament was a huge success with a great crowd turnout. All the participants in the tournament were great exponents of the best qualities of sportsmen and sportswomen, thus fulfilling the main objective of the tournament – to encourage in students the desire to participate and improve, the perennial struggle of life; a struggle in which this tournament definitely played a huge supporting role.