On 17 January 2016, business students from all over Singapore gathered in the Sport and Recreation Center of the NTU campus to compete in the 6th MBA Olympics, hosted by The Nanyang MBA team.
The volunteer interscholastic sporting event brought together the MBA students from NBS, NUS, SMU, ESSEC and SP Jain to meet for a friendly competition of badminton, basketball, football, table-tennis, running relays and volleyball.
After Prof. Nilanjan Sen, the Associate Dean of the host school, Nanyang Business School, addressed the students with encouraging opening remarks, a horn was blown to officially kick-off the competition and send contestants off to the field. Despite intense heat and humidity, all contestants exhibited great competitive spirit and overwhelming stamina throughout the tournament.
Prof. Nilanjan Sen addressing the students to kick-start the competition
The event schedule was tightly organised and players who participated in more than one of the Olympic disciplines hurried from one court to the other to support their teams. To refill the contestant´s energy reserves and boost the competitive spirit, the event sponsor Kashmi, provided 100PLUS energy drinks, Red Bull had donated their famous energy drinks to give students “wings”, Bayer offered Berocca multi-vitamin tablets to boost energy and mental sharpness, and the Soup Spoon gave out coupons for a hot meal at their food outlets.
After a hectic morning with group competitions in all disciplines, players gathered at the running track to enjoy a lunch break. Students had the opportunity to network, make new friends, and regain energy for the next round of competitions. Often, the race between schools was tight and supporters had to give their every bit of energy to cheer on their teams at the top of their voices. Being the event´s organiser, NBS had the advantage of having their school mascot around. Rondel Apelo, a Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA student, could not care less about the extreme outside temperatures and put on the heavy plush costume of NTU´s official mascot, Lyon, to cheer on his classmates, and of course, be the accessory in many memorable photo shoots.
Mascot “Lyon” with NBS students
The final winners in the respective disciplines were awarded with bronze, silver and gold medals to honour the tremendous efforts and great sportsmanship of all players. Professor Pete Giulioni, Head of the NBS Career Development Office, proudly handed over the many medals to the exhausted contestants and congratulated every student on their outstanding performance as well as good sportsmanship. “This was a terrific day”, Pete stated with a beaming smile. “I am truly impressed by hospitality exhibited by all our students.”
Prof Pete was assisted by a crowd of agile volunteer helpers who had formed the event organization committee from the NBS cohort. The MBA Olympics event committee had done a great job in preparing for the tournament, setting up the venue and taking great care of all players throughout the game day. Everyone had given their best efforts to make the event a success and the Nanyang Sports Club Co-Chairs, Sancho Cuasay III and Anoop Bolisetty, were truly delighted. “We are proud that all guests had a lot of fun and enjoyed the day”, said Sancho after a long day of coordinating the various matches of the day. “Thankfully, nobody got hurt and we only heard good feedback from all participating schools”, Anoop added.
Action on the football field
The purpose of the full day sports event was not only to measure up to each other in various sports disciplines, but also to raise awareness for a noble cause among future business leaders. The event sponsors, Lee Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric and Renesas, offered generous donations to support the sporty students in their fundraising endeavours. All surplus funds raised from the event were donated to Special Olympics Singapore, the beneficiary of this year´s MBA Olympics. The NBS Corporate Social Responsibility Club Co-Chairs, Aki Narita and Gauri Agarwal, proudly presented a cheque in the amount of SGD 5,000 at the end of the awarding ceremony.
Singapore Special Olympics receiving a SGD 5,000 cheque
Upon honouring all players and teams for their efforts to support the 6th MBA Olympics, and presenting the trophy for the title “Overall Champion” to the winning school SP Jain, the event was closed with a friendly football match between the Singapore Special Olympics and a mixed team of all school´s football players, just before sunset. A truly successful event!
The trophy for the “Overall Champion”
….and medals for all teams !
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