It was the Olympics weekend at IUB this weekend, where young women and men from across the globe compete for the glory of their college. The Olympics, staged annually with the purpose of getting students to know each other, was as usual exciting, entertaining and exhausting. There were six disciplines, which were hotly contested between 13 teams (3 Mercator, 3 Krupp, 4CIII, Alumni, host families and the Graduate Students team).

Mercator College, normally known for events such as Country Information Day (CID), Art contest and Debating had a lot to say in the traditional sports of the Olympics this year, especially in IUB’s most popular sport, SOCCER. Among top three finishers in IUB soccer Olympics were two Mercator teams, namely Mercator A and Mercator C. If these statistics has something to reveal it would be Mercator’s bright future in inter-college soccer tournaments yet to come this academic year.

In a group made up of College III-A, Krupp-A and Mercator A, College III A may have started the soccer Olympics seemingly having the upper hand after seeing Mercator A face a race against time only to achieve a disappointing draw against underdogs Krupp A in the first match of the group, but at the final whistle it was all Blues who picked up the highly valued soccer trophy. The first game’s draw never seemed to have woken up the normally reliable pair of Samyam and Sanjay; Mercator A had yet again a huge mountain to climb against College III-A. With three minutes to go the score line read 2-3 and an early exit was on the cards. However a moment of brilliance from Sanjay set up the out standing Julie to score a double-worth goal and put Mercator A on the driving sit. 4-3 read the score line and a drama was yet to unfold. With the clock ticking towards the end, Sanjay made sure the game was beyond CIII-A’s reach with a gaol that announced the clear intentions of Mercator to win the soccer Olympics after Mercator C had sealed a semi-final breath.

The semi-finals were even more exciting and dramatic than the group stage. Mercator A won the first game of the semi-finals through penalty shootouts, having secured a last gasp equaliser against Krupp B, to assure Mercator’s Presence in the final. Unfortunately Marcator C was on the wrong side of a dramatic penalty shootout after a goalless draw against an experienced alumni side.

Unlike the rest of the soccer games, the prestigious sport Hall one was the stage for the final. Mercator A started with Elkhan, an experienced goalkeeper who has been missing throughout the tournament, between the posts. This was indeed a much needed morale lift. And indeed it was Mercator A that took the initiative in the game. Alyona serving as the lone striker with Sanjay just behind and Samyam handed the free role in midfield. Behind him Fredrik and Agneiska combined well to disrupt the Alumni’s flow. Mercator A seemed invincible. Much to the delight of the Mercatorians, two minutes into the final game, Mercator A took the lead through a well-worked goal by Samyam. The first half ended one-nil in favour of the Mercator, a result that could and indeed should have been much better if it wasn’t for the wasteful finish from Sanjay.

Mercator A started the second half in the defensive side, which allowed the Alumni more space to attack.  It was indeed a defensive mix-up, which resulted in the equaliser for the alumni. However under the watchful eyes of the college Masters Fredrik surged with the ball down the right flank to unleash an unstoppable ball which the keeper could only collect from the back of the net. Mercator A held firm to the lead under persistent pressure from the Alumni to secure the first ever-Olympic trophy for Mercator College.

All credits to the soccer team members of Mercator College Block A; Alyona Asyamova (Uzbekistan), Agneiska (Poland), Brighton Samtanga (Zimbabwe), Bogdan (Romania), Elkhan Muradov (Azerbaijan), Fredrik (Germany) Janyanta (Nepal), Julian Oetzel (Germany), Samyam Gautam (Nepal) and Sanjay Dhital (Nepal).

(Text by Jaafer Futuwi)