This glory is something that we have been wanting from long time not because we haven't won it and we wish to but also because we were in such mood that United Kingdom can be a lucky charm for us and there we can perform our best and make the country proud.
In this way when our meetings started to kick on back in Early may 2019 it was up for us to make challenges bigger, make sure that we do tick those boxes which weren't address in absence or presence of certain players and make the mark.
Thereby after returning to complete health with short niggles and listening out the lacking pinpoints to track after our performances in Pan American quiz tournament in my absence It was up for me and the coach sir to once again set the tone and make sure we set right standards from the beginning.
At least we were up for the basic plans in the meetings held before the tournament and I believe that from there on the trust to do well and make sure that we come on top has started to become sure not only for a proper settlement but for a better future vision in it's ultimate approach and I am glad in past the way things shaped and the team continued to work hard in the practice sessions before the quiz tournament indeed.
In the early stages we found ourselves with great atmosphere in Trinity college, London with great support of we the Indians and we would like to express our grattitude here going further as a team response and I felt that the entire team started to blend in with such environment and the hunger to perform big started to grow.
In the both 2 braille rounds we did well and though we were not at the top we were still around in top four which was pleasing and we knew that as the bigger matches come by our pressure game should develop more and it was a great start with team contributing regularly not depending only on the captain or vice captain for the impact and all joining the cultural galore.
Further in the both typing rounds we burst through and at the end of it finished on the top with great score at the end of it which was more delightful and we have started to recognise that bigger moments can be ours if we play well and impress each other for great momentum that is essential to go through for knock out stages.
Yet we also had fun moments from beginning to keep the tone of the inside rooms that counted our early trip to entire London before the tournament started and our happy trip to the London zoo after the league stages closed and altogether it was great fun to have around and make sure that happy moments continue to inspire before the performance to come in pressure situation with promissing results on show.
Once the knock out stage were in front of us there was a serious plan that we have to apply with the other teams who have come by and they were all top teams for which accurate speed, right decision making and equal judgement skills were essential for which we have a short meeting before our 1st match against Greece who's victory should certainly lead us to the semi finals.
In the Quarters we made sure to understand Where Greece has their weaknesses, applied our speed to right perfection and the biggest joy for me was the role of the central order and the vice captain who all came to their fours and performed well ultimately helping us to the next stage with tremendous roar of support from crowd and great delight of the team.
However we hhad cleared the quarters, the next knock out was going to be more tough and when we came to realise that Switzerland had surprised Sweedon we were not shockd and knew they are great side and have to perform well against them thus when we faced them we focused on early start, struck down speed of burst on buzzles and hence in the third round found their pressure zones with they doing some mistakes of wrong answers that ultimately helped us and by that we had bounced to our first finals in the legendary tournament like European Quiz championship.
The morale to support back home was phenomenal, we had a quick chat with honorary leaders of our comunity on phone to appreciate and they spread their wishes, social media greatly applauded but also wished us goodluck and now it was only 1 step away the memory we want to save in our heart forever if we are able to champion the finals against the very strong hoste England and become the champions.
Yet when the finals came it was something assuring to see the way team was ready for it and I have called Tanishka, a Quiz player of Maharashtra, in case if my heart not respond well and I might not be fit to play, But the team requested and after some pulling of legs amongst mates for laughter things has started to shape well and after some quick sessions of talks with coffee amongst us we got ready for the place travelling again in the same cab with great support of Allen the cab driver and continued to chat the plans we have made against the home team in this big final.
We knew that the support would be phenomenal for both teams and Brian Higgs who is the captain of English Visually impaired team told us that we were getting great response which was understandable and I was happy to see the way things were going till the match had to begin.
Once we went in, the formal process started where this time there were 4 rounds each of 1 hour with each having two phases of 30 minutes with 10 questions each and like all the knock out rounds the team that would score the best at the end of the 4 rounds shall be declared the champions and it was going to be a real cracking evening.
The patterns once again repeated itself with both team's players names were announced with their coach, both teams' captains speaking to the crowd greeting and introducing, and the umpire also introducing himself, a good one from turkey, and it was surely going to be great fun for all of us and we couldn't wait for such moment anymore than our opponents and it was off with the bang of the whistler and buzzles started to zing from all sides.
The first two rounds were very close no dout with both the team performing well but in the 1st hour we had taken lead from 200 to 150 and I think our plans were well, But England came back very strong taking the lead of 10 points in the 2nd hour with their score 170 to ours of 160 and we were not in panick mode but had realised that they were not going to give up easily and shall come to best moves when required.
Though in the 3rd round we returned with more speed of accuracy and the central order once again fired with our lead going up to 200 to 150 again and I think that was the defining point, Though England had to perform great in the last hour they had started to do those pressure errors like Switzerland of Semi finals and we were able to close it down from 180 to 100 by them and we are very glad to announce on our social media places for those who are waiting for great news that we have managed to win.
We defeated them by 750 to 570 after the conclusion of the all 4 rounds and once the announcement of our victory happened on stage mike the noise was deafening, we were all on our feet being 1st time champions of this historic Quiz tournament for the visually impaired and as a captain as wel as a quizzer i shall remember this memory for long and express my gratitude to all those who kept their faith in us and supported us both in England and also back Home, Thank you all.
Further in process the presentation ceremony took place after gap of 1 hour and we were amongst the award winners but there were some rising faces and 1 player and his or her coach were nominated for 6 different awards each representing a certain continent as this is a huge tournament and it was a great gesture by the Royal Commonwealth committee and yet our vice captain was the performer of the tournament an I got the performer of the day which was happy to see and pleasing as a captain that I was able to contribute in the big match to bring the happy cause to right momentum.
However we also got some local vegetarian food passes and I took the whole team to the party with some local media personal joining us, But again, I would rather here like to express my gratitude to parents and family, Indian Quiz Federation and the organisers of the tournament, our External Affair ministry and Tourism group in India, And all who are behind the scenes and made our success possible as a managing core.
As a quizzer I am sure that even in the sighted field people in our country shall start to recognise it's value as a national sport and commercial quizzing can also continue, yet we have one happy moments and Quizzing as an academic sport has lot to go through in future in our country, Till more happy moments to come, Big thank you to all from the entire team, it's cheers from charlie...
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