Padma Bushan Lady Andal Inter-school Tournament, is an event, which is very much looked forward to by almost every school sports team in Chennai.
Hosted by Lady Andal School, it has been running successfully for eleven years now. But the 2012 tournament is rather special for Lady Andal students, as the school has just completed its Silver Jubilee year. Padma Bhushan consists of four events, swimming, football, volleyball and basketball.
This year, there are a staggering number of 2780 students participating. 550 in basketball, 340 in volleyball, 1480 in football and 300 in swimming. The event is held for three days. And this year, the dates are June 27, 28 and 29.
Even at 6 a.m. the Lady Andal sports grounds were already filled with students, shooting, swimming timed laps, dribbling and furiously serving away.
The event was inaugurated at 9 a.m. with a highly motivating speech by the chief guest, Mrs. Prema Kumar. Mrs. Kumar, the well-respected correspondent and secretary of Lady Andal and The Madras Seva Sadan Schools is a highly dynamic lady, winner of many prestigious awards.
This year, there will be a special trophy, for the most outstanding individual player, in memory of Pranav U.B., a keen athlete and a Games Captain, who passed away earlier this month.
By 9.30, the tournament was in full swing. There were matches with nail biting moments and extremely close wins and losses in every sport. Yes, the games had very much begun.
