The second edition of XLerate has drawn to a close and what a roller-coaster ride

it has been for the past 3 days!!! XLRI, the hosts, successfully defended the
championship this year. XLerate is a national level sports and cultural fest
organized by XLRI, exclusively for one year MBA programs in India. This event
serves as a platform to unite the students who are studying in one year MBA
programs across India. Apart from XLRI, there were student contingents from
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai and SP Jain, Mumbai, IIM Calcutta
and XIM, Bhubaneshwar.
Charles Borromeo, an Arjuna and Padam Shri awardee was invited as the chief
guest of the opening ceremony. He currently heads the sports department at Tata
Steel. He addressed the students and emphasized on the importance of hard
work and determination. He also stressed on the need to participate, rather than
to concentrate on winning. One has to be humble in victory and gracious when
defeated. Fr. James Santhanam, S.J., associate dean of Student Affairs and Dr.
Pranabesh Ray, Dean Academics were also at the gathering. After traditional
lighting of lamps, the event was declared officially open.
First event of the extravaganza was Case Competition where students were given
a live case and their grey matter was tested to come up with a feasible solution.
IIM C came out triumphant with XLRI bagging the second and third positions.
Semi-finals in Volleyball witnessed clashes between XLRI -Great Lakes and IIM CSP Jain. Great Lakes and SP Jain came out on top in the semis and booked their
date for the final showdown. In the final, Great Lakes displayed superior game
and won the event. Chess was also won by Great Lakes with XLRI giving them a
close fight ending up as runners-up. IIM C displayed their acumen in Carroms and
were clear winners while XLRI stood second. In Pool, XLRI started as firm
favourites and lived to their high expectations by coming out on top, while IIM C
bagged the second spot.
While sports were the order of the day on Day1, cultural events stole the
limelight on Day2. There was plethora of events which kept the organisers on
their toes the whole day. XLRI dominated here too by winning three out of the 5
events held, while they stood second in the other 2, which were won by Great
Lakes, out of which their group dance stood as the highlight of the day. There
was a rock band performance, by XLRIs favourite band, Underground Authority,
which enthralled the audiences with a few of their original compositions, along
with amazing rock versions of Bollywood songs too.
Great Lakes gave a good fight to XLRI in track and field events and came at
respectful second position. The athletes of XLRI proved their mettle on track and
bagged the first position. In Basketball, semi-final pairs drawn out were XLRI-SP
Jain and Great Lakes IIM C for a place in finals. XLRI and Great Lakes entered
the final, riding high on confidence. Final was a high intensity match with
tempers flaring quite frequently, ending in a comfortable win to the hosts. Futsal
also witnessed same teams in the final with intensity levels a notch higher. Match
went down to penalties, and further to sudden death as teams were unable to
break the stalemate. It was XLRI again which was able to convert one penalty

adding yet another feather to their cap. For third final in a row, Cricket also
witnessed showdown between XLRI and Great Lakes. XLRI won the match by 6
wickets after restricting Great Lakes to a score of 60 in 12 overs.
Finally XLRI was presented with the Overall Championship trophy after securing
19.5 points. Great Lakes were second with 14.5 points. Throughout the
tournament, there was a visible camaraderie and togetherness among students
of all the colleges. We can definitely proclaim that XLerate 2015 was one unique
war that united people from different colleges.