Students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are fortunate as they get various co-curricular and sports related opportunities for their holistic development in line with the motto of the school: “Union of Body, Mind and Soul”. The daily schedule of the school mandates one and a half hours of sports activities which include indoor as well as outdoor games. Table Tennis is one of the most liked sports at AVM as students get the best training and opportunity to practice and prepare for various competitions.
With the proficient training and preparation given by their coach Devang Sir, the AVM Table Tennis team recently participated in the CBSE Cluster XIII – U-14, U-17 & U-19 Table Tennis Competition 2023-24. This interschool competition was held at Delhi Public School (DPS), Gandhinagar, a perfect venue for this Zonal Table Tennis Competition owing to their spacious campus. The opening ceremony of this competition started with a walk past by all the participating teams and players. After that, the coaches and officials were called to felicitate the guests and dignitaries with flowers. This ceremony was a powerpack programme full of speeches, a presentation of table tennis history and a dance performance.
The AVM team was as follows:
| Under-14 | Under-17 | Under-19 |
| Dhyan Bhatt (7th) | Aatman Patel (10th) | Veer Modi (11th) |
| Bhaarat Bandhiya (8th) | Aum D. Patel (10th) | Chaitanya Patel (11th) |
| Purv Tank (8th) | Arya Patel (10th) | Advait Patel (10th) |
| Nirmal Patel (7th) | Atmiya Solanki (10th) | Aryan Jasoliya (11th) |
The event began with a bang for our team as AVM players emerged victorious in their very first match of the U-14 category against Shree Jalaram International School. However, in the second match, the AVM team could not perform well and moved out of the series. Thereafter, AVM’s U-17 players had their first match against Hills’ High School. After multiple surprising shots, mesmerising rallies and a hard game, Hills’ High School emerged as the winner achieving victory by a match score of 1-3. In their competition against the Vallabh Ashram school team, AVM’s U-19 team had a very close loss by a score of 2-3. Fortunately, the brilliant performance of AVM’s Dhyan Bhatt was marked by the judges and his name was announced for the individual matches. In this match, the opponent was an experienced player who used a racket with ‘phantom rubber’ [a special rubber which has effects such as negating momentum]. Nevertheless, his excellent shots and experience worked in his favour as he defeated Dhyan Bhai with a score of 2-0.
The most thrilling and exciting game was that of the U-19 individual category, which was between Veer R. Modi from Atmiya Vidya Mandir and Neev Patel from DPS, Surat. The game started with a bang and consisted of multiple smashes and blocks, top spins and flats as both of them were moving their rackets smartly to send the ball to the other side. Though Veer Bhai played with much accuracy and agility, but the victory slipped from his hands with a very small difference. Amidst lots of ups and downs and many learning experiences, the CBSE Table Tennis Clusters Competition ended. The AVM players returned home not with the disappointment of defeat but with determination and zeal sparked through experience and failure to do better and shine brighter next time.
Written by: Aatman Patel, Atmiya Solanki (Grade 10)
