Patna: St Michael’s High School, Patna, emerged overall champion at the Master Akshya Kumar Memorial Inter-School Swimming Competition held at the school on Thursday, securing 117 points.
Litera Valley School, Patna, finished as first runner-up with 86 points, while Delhi Public School, Patna, secured the second runner-up position with 80 points.
The competition was organised to commemorate and pay tribute to swimming legend Master Akshya Kumar, whose guiding belief was, “There is no fruit without labour.” The school said the event was aimed at promoting the holistic development of children through co-curricular activities.
12 schools compete across four age groups
The competition featured swimmers from 12 schools in Patna. They competed in Free Style, Back Stroke, Breast Stroke, Butterfly and Relay events across four categories for both boys and girls: Group D (U-12), Group C (U-14), Group B (U-17) and Group A (U-19).
The participating schools were DPS Patna East, Delhi Public School, Patna, International School, CBSE, St Dominic Savio’s High School, Notre Dame Academy, Loyola High School, St Xavier’s High School, Litera Valley School, St Joseph’s Convent High School, Knowledge Gram International School, Carmel High School and host St Michael’s High School.
Individual and relay winners
Among the individual events, Shlok of Litera Valley School won the Group D U-12 boys category with 13 points, while Dhaniksha Pal of Delhi Public School won the U-12 girls category with eight points.
Vaibhav Singh of St Michael’s High School topped the U-14 boys category with 15 points, while Avni Agrawal of Delhi Public School won the U-14 girls category with 10 points.
In the U-17 categories, Mitul Kumar of St Xavier’s High School won the boys’ event with 15 points, while Prashansa Priyam of Delhi Public School secured the girls’ title with 15 points.
Aditya Vishnu of International School, CBSE, won the U-19 boys category with 15 points. Kumari Bhavya of St Michael’s High School won the U-19 girls category with 16 points.
In the relay events, DPS Patna East won the boys U-12 and U-14 category with 15 points, while Delhi Public School, Patna, won the girls open category with 15 points.
Litera Valley School and St Michael’s High School shared the boys U-17 and U-19 relay title with 15 points each. Litera Valley School also won the mixed relay category with 15 points.
Focus on participation and sportsmanship
St Michael’s High School principal Fr A. Christu Savarirajan welcomed the chief guest, Fr Louis Prakash, coaches, guest teachers and participating students.
He encouraged the young swimmers to give their best and emphasised that such competitions are not only about winning but also about participation, perseverance and maintaining the spirit of the game.
The competition concluded with the distribution of prizes and recognition of the participants for their performances, sportsmanship and enthusiastic participation. The vote of thanks was delivered by the school president.
