Action aplenty

At the Jal D. Pardivala 31st All Parsees Annual Athletic Meet at the University Stadium in Bombay on February 12 to 13, 2011, Karen Mistry representing Faster Speed Intelligence was the Fastest Woman of the Meet, with a timing of 13.1 sec in the 100 m. Vaspan Munshi of the J. N. Petit Technical High School (JNPTHS), Poona was the Fastest Man of the Meet, with a 100 m run in 11.9 sec. The Jal. D. Pardivala Trophy for the Best Athlete of the Year went to Sanaya Ichhaporia representing the Sir Ness Wadia Club. It was the fourth time she won this distinction, the previous three occasions being from 2007 to 2009.

The Canon Sports and Gifts Trophy for the Best Athlete of the Meet went to Urvan Zaiwala of the Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial Trust for his new meet record of 11.61 m in shot put for Boys U-16. (Zaiwala is the late Pardivala’s great grandson.) New meet records were also created by the Girls U-12 4 x 100 m relay quartet [Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP)], Pehzan Sarfabadi (shot put Boys U-14, Shirin Dinyar Irani Learners’ Academy, Dahanu), Rohin Patel (high jump, Boys U-18, JNPTHS), Rusi Karanjia (javelin Boys U-18, BPP) and Zubin Cooper (110 m hurdles, Men, JNPTHS). The JNPTHS picked up the team championship for Men, while BPP athletes claimed the team trophy for Women. The Late Air Marshall Minoo Engineer Trophy for Lifetime Contribution in the field of Parsi sports was presented to Homi D. Kapadia, sportsman and sports official who is one of the founder members of the managing and organizing committee of the All Parsees Sports Foundation which conducted the event.

At All-Parsees meet: (top, from left) Mithoo Jesia, Homi Kapadia and Sam Variava; victorious BPP athletes (center) and J. N. Petit School boys and others with dignitaries (below)

The large contingent of BPP athletes also excelled at the subsequent Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana Annual Floodlit Athletic Meet 2011, winning all the three team championships — men, women and inter-club. The Adi M. Gandhi Trophy for the Most Promising Girl Athlete was won by young Natasha General (who had earlier in the year won a silver and a bronze in her age group at the Maharashtra state meet at Poona and had also stood first in long jump, 50 m and 100 m run at the Bombay City District Amateur Athletic Association meet in February). Farzad Dastoor was awarded the Naval Pithawalla Trophy for the Most Promising Boy Athlete. Five members of the BPP squad established new meet records — Khushnaz General (Women, 300 m 58.3 sec), Aatush Kalyaniwala (Boys U-16, 300 m, 44.5 sec), Dastoor (Boys U-18, 300 m, 40.5 sec), Nawzad Patel (Men, shot put, 10.20 m) and Jazeel Limzerwalla (Men, 150 m, 18.8 sec; triple jump, 12.18 m). Eya­nah Daru­walla, Natasha General, Rohi­na and Khushanaz Gandhi (joint), Zen­rookh Da­var, Khushnaz General, Kayo­mars Gandhi, Kalyani­wala, Arish Sutaria and Lim­zerwalla were the Individual Champions in their respective age categories. The meet had participants from Bom­bay, Poona, Surat and Navsari. The BPP athletes are being trained by chief coach Dara Doomasia and his assistants on a regular basis. "We go to Rustom Baug every evening for training,” bubbles Natasha General enthusiastically.