By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter

The DPS Modern Indian School won the 19th inter-school quiz competition organised by the Indian Women’s Association (IWA), fighting off a stiff challenge from Philippine International School - Qatar which came a close second while the Ideal Indian School won the third position.
The winning team, comprising Mihir Ketker, Farhan Sakkir and Azhan Ashraf scored 120 points. The second place team of Alexandria Joana Rotdan, Juan Carlo Gylandayes and Renz Jesmar Chuateco notched up 105 points, while Faiz Rahiman, Awant Ajay and Gautam Raghav came a distant third with 50 points.
The other three teams in the final round of the competition were Al Khor International School, Birla Public School and Bhavan’s Public School.
Indian ambassador Sanjiv Arora was the chief guest of the competition that was held at the Birla Public School today evening. A number of dignitaries, including IWA patron Chhaya Arora, were present.
Renowned quiz master, Siddhartha Basu captivated the audience for over two hours with a brilliant display of a number of questions that demanded knowledge, intelligence and quick wit. The quiz had several rounds of twists and turns before the trio from the DPS MIS emerged the champions. With his elegant oratory and theatrical skills, Basu, fighting off the humid weather, entertained the crowd with several rounds of questions for the audience, offering several valuable goodies as gifts.
The six teams were chosen from a preliminary round of competition that had the participation of over 600 students from 13 schools. Thereafter, the top scoring teams were represented by the top scoring students of the school. The winning team was presented the rolling trophy and several gifts while all the other five teams were presented with a number of gifts from the sponsors of the event.
Earlier, the Indian envoy highlighted the role played by the IWA in organising such a fantastic quiz for so many years and the support extended by various organisations and the sponsors. He also pointed out that a quiz carnival with a lead quiz master such as Siddartha Basu was a great feat to take part and watch. A souvenir highlighting the activities of the Indian Women’s Association was released at the function.
Jotshna Dey, president of IWA gave an account of the activities of the organisations and their efforts in helping the society in various ways. Britannia and GRB were the main sponsors of the event. Gulf Times was the media sponsor.