After the level of intensity witnessed during Basketball, people thought things would be quieter when the teams gathered for Volleyball and Badminton. Obviously, they underestimated the desire for teams to win at all cost!

The day started with Volleyball where GKG proved to be the strongest team on the show and beat HOM in their first round. GOK beat TNHP easily to set up a thrilling finale. Needless to say, the matches had their moments with one of the team owners getting into an argument and players indulging in harmless 'name-calling'. The 3rd-4th round match between TNHP and HOM was dominated by TNHP which made them wonder what could have been had they got their positioning right in the first match.

The final was a close-knit affair as both GKG and GOK were playing well and not giving away free points. Nikhil Wagle, team owner with his golden arm and Kunal Malhotra, with quick hands at the net, swung the match in GKG's favor. After the win, GKG became table toppers but as the day ended, they were in for a surprise!

Badminton proved to be equally exhilarating as players from all four teams played their hearts out to win points for their team. Players overcame dehydration, fatigue, pressure and an highly vocal audience...;p. Individual brilliance from Tushar Soni, ably supported by Jatin Munjal, meant TNHP took away the honors, but they were given a tough fight by HOM. GOK came back strongly after their close defeat to HOM to pick up a solitary point leaving three teams on the top of the table with 12 points!

The players will be back with Football, Cricket and Tug of War. Till then, keep swearing..oops i mean cheering!

For an activity that takes your heart and soul, involves your mind and body it was a natural progression. Games begin in the mind before you move on to the real act itself. And nothing gets players in the heat of the game more than some mental stimulation. And thus began Titanomachy this year. The play for Titanomachy began with blitz chess. Team TNHP and HOM sounded the battle horn and knights started flirting with queens. Meanwhile GKG and GOK started dueling on the sidelines. Rooks were slaughtered, bishops were sacrificed and when the fog of war cleared, the pawnsters from HOM that emerged the champions of blitz chess, defeating GOK in the final battle of the checkered board.

The battle was won but the war remained, from Space Circle, where Balls of Fury were whizzing around at sonic speeds in the Table Tennis encounters. Solo, doubles or mixed doubles you name it. Table Tennis at Titanomachy had something for everyone’s taste. Nakul Gupta showed deadly table edge precision while Dipanjan Biawas was his usual Bengali self. GOK came out to be the TT Champs at Titanomachy 2013 after Vartika and Nakul won the mixed Doubles match to take an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Basketball is one of the most physically demanding sports there is and it was arguably the most aggressively contested one at Titanomachy.

Gaurav Bajaj (2012-14 batch) writes:

“Thundershowers, lightning, drizzle, beautiful fast rains - we all must have witnessed these weathers through our lifetime. But it's not every day that you get to see these weathers in the same day - something that was adamantly visible on the Basketball Court at Space Circle tonight. For those of you who were not a witness to the basketball chronicles today, well - you really missed something! Especially if you like the typical masala-stuffed Bollywood movies or turbulent TV shows like Bigg Boss (I thought I should begin with a joke but this one actually turns out to be true)

In our first match for the day, TNHP went one-on-one against GOK. The match turned out to be a mauling (with no disrespect to GOK, they just could not match TNHP's swagger). The score line stood at 20-0 at the end. It was like the scene from 3 Idiots - TNHP said Chamatkaar and GOK got Balaatkar! GOK just fell behind in line, caught in their own tails; eventually the misery was contemplated in just one dialogue - "Abey Kutte aage aa!" Everyone present could not help themselves but chuckle upon hearing this frivolous cry of frustration from a player in angst who tried valiantly but just could never get the proper service or the skills from the team! Ah, the moment is unretractable but i firmly believe etched in the minds of all those present. TNHP, on their part, had a strong set of players who contemplated well with each other - a fact aptly displayed by the score line 

And after witty dialogues and hearty laughs, all die-hard Bollywood dramas need some action! And action-was-a-plenty in the second match, between HOM and GKG. Both teams had players with good abilities - it was a good match on paper; on the court, it turned out to be an all-out war. Players crashing on the court, rough fouls, strong backing up and both teams keeping their defenses tight. The score remained 0-0 in the first half. The second half started in the same fashion - same tempo but with a basket scored by GKG. But it was as the third quarter ended that the match took an unprecedented turn - actually for the worse! All hell broke loose with one instance of a punch thrown; within moments sledging turned to physical involvement, heated exchanges, on rush of people from the audience to separate the engaged parties, more sledging, news of the match being abandoned, 40-50 ppl stacked up on the court, Anarchy, Chaos - it was a scene the Joker would have been proud of  Anyways, after more than half an hour of mayhem, Batman saved Gotham (captains and referee sorted it all out together) and the match was back on again with three FTs awarded to HOM for the foul - one was converted and score was brought to 2-1. A rapid last quarter saw both teams firing baskets and finally, GKG prevailed 8-5 to reach the finals. It was in the end our own Hillsborough disaster - only difference being that the competitive spirit and sportsmanship was what died a meager death here. It can be treated as a gossip story but it was essentially against sports etiquettes. In the heat of the spirit, we do regrettable things against our basic morals. Just hoping that it will not repeat in the remainder of this Titanomachy edition and we see rest of the sports played in the right spirit of competitiveness

And after that moral epiphany, back to the remaining games. 3rd Place was taken by HOM in a 6-2 win over GOK. GOK performed immensely better as a unit in this match but HOM ran away with the solitary point with a defining performance, totally reflective of their true caliber

The final between GKG and TNHP was a game between two giants. Although time deficit caused by the earlier debacle led to each quarter being restricted to a 3-minute time frame, both teams stepped up to the plate with strong conviction and a quality set of players. Over the first three quarters, TNHP took a 2-pt lead twice, both times equalized by GKG. The game involved rapid attacks by both teams along with more offensive strategies. A third basket in the 4th quarter of the game seemed to give TNHP the edge but a final needs to have a special moment - this one had its when GKG hit a three pointer in the middle of the last quarter to take a 7-6 lead. And that's how it remained till the end. GKG played catch up during the entire match but just crossed the line a bit better than THNP in a true photo finish. Both teams surely deserve a great round of applause for the enlivening the spirit and enthralling the crowd; in fact, all four teams did that.  And despite the shadows of negativity still present in hunches, it turned to be an extravagant affair - one thoroughly enjoyed by both the audience and the players.

P.S.: A special mention for the 'Jaddu ki Jhappis' one of the players gave to opposition players from behind during the game. I don't believe you are going to witness that again in a basketball if you missed it tonight (then again, I could not have predicted what happened today either).

The stage is set and emotions are high, as the students of IIFT Kolkata gather for the player auctioning round of the annual sports fest Titanomachy. With colorful team names and high level strategies formed by the team managers that would leave Sir Alex Ferguson to shame, it promises to be a fun ride. The sports to be played this year include Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Chess and everyone's favorite Tug of War.

The teams lined up for the event are Gangs of Keshtopur (GoK), House of Marauders (HOM), Gogo ke Gladiators (GkG) and Tumse na ho Payega (TNHP). Before the bidding, we have seen lot of bickering among the teams, especially on their names, with some tongue-in-cheek comments being made. The overall budget set for each team is Rs. 10,000 (8,000 for guys and 2,000 for girls). Rohit Kumar (2012-14 batch), the Joint Cultural Secretary of IIFT, is conducting the bidding in true IPL fashion. Teams start off cautiously but floodgates soon open as Vishnu Karthik, arguably the best football player in both batches combined is sold for a whooping Rs. 2,000

GkG seems to have a lot of sentimental attachment to some players or a 'player'. They have bid as high as 1,400 for a girl, considering the total budget for girls is 2,000! As an audience member correctly points out, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, to one of the team owners who shall not be named. After few more comments, the Gladiators have justified by stating that the bid was purely due to capability and not personal history!

Gaurav Bajaj (2012-14 batch) is making sure that people who are unfortunately missing out on watching the action unfold live are getting regular updates on Facebook. One of the students from the 2013-15 batch is overly eager to know his bidding price and has vigorously promoted his capabilities to all team owners before the event! Well, the promotion has worked as he is sold for 1,700. As the auction progresses, reputations are made or tarnished, as each player is given a price tag. As the auction ends, each team is going back with a satisfied smile thinking they have the winning combination. Only time will tell who will have the last laugh. Let the war begin!