Birla Public School (BPS) emerged champions in Aster Kids Brain Quest 2016, the inter-school quiz contest organised by Indian Women’s Association (IWA) and conducted by renowned quiz master Siddhartha Basu.
The all-girl team from BPS, comprising Ananya Manoj, Tanuja Kaleli and Vaidehi Pujary, scored 100 points.
They were followed by the DPS-MIS team of Aadit Jude Babu, Alannah Felix and Amritha Varshini with 95 points, with the team of Alexa Mae Bonjoc, Kelly Lavigne Guarin and James Mina from Philippine International School, Qatar, coming a close third with 90 points.
The 2016 edition of the inter-school quiz competition organised by IWA, the 20th edition of the event, had six teams vying for the honours in the final round of the competition. The other three teams in the finale, held at BPS, were Philippine School Doha, MES Indian School and Shantiniketan Indian School.
Quiz master Basu captivated the audience for over two hours with eight rounds of quizzing, covering a number of topics and current affairs. The quiz, right from the onset, had a number of  twists and turns with the lead changing with every round.
With his elegant oratory and theatrical skills, Basu entertained the crowd who had gathered at the venue on a chilly evening. There was also a special set of questions for the audience, offering several goodies as gifts.
Earlier, the Aster Kids programme was launched by Indian ambassador P Kumaran’s wife Ritu Kumaran, who is also the patron of  IWA, and Dr Sameer Moopan, chief executive officer, Aster DM Healthcare Qatar. Nikhil Joseph, senior manager, Aster DM Healthcare, Qatar, highlighted that Aster Kids is an initiative that aims at the holistic development of students.
A souvenir highlighting the activities of IWA was also released at the event.
The event started with a special programme called Insomnia, by mentalist Aathi who mesmerised the audience with several of his techniques in mentalism.
Jotshna Dey, president of IWA, gave an account of the activities of the organisation and their efforts in helping the society in various ways.
The six teams for the final round were chosen from a preliminary written competition that had more than 630 students from a number of schools in Qatar.
 The top teams were represented by the top-scoring students of the school.
 All the teams in the final competition were presented with a number of gifts from Aster DM Healthcare and several other sponsors.