Report: Clarence Pinto
Pics: Joachim D’Souza
Muscat, Oct 14: Mangalorean Catholic Centre for Parish (MCCP) of the region, Oman recently held a scintillating and engrossing quiz competition in a big way at the Ruwi parish main hall. The show engaged all the participants and the audience in a highly intellectually stimulating activity besides showcasing key values such as teamwork, fair play, respect for themselves and others and adherence to rules.
Team-26 under the leadership of Sunil Furtado, intended to bring in a new thinking wherein the community members be provided with opportunities for creativity and gain new insights into different areas of our world and at the same time bring the community together in a positive way. This was evident in the quiz show.
Members were requested to form teams consisting of three members with at least one being below 18 years. 26 teams, who had registered themselves, came prepared for the battle of brains. It was interesting to observe that children and teenagers of the community formed a large portion of the contestants.
The programme began with a versatile and effervescent Lavina D’Sa taking centre stage and welcoming participants as well as the audience, who had gathered in good numbers. She then requested the spiritual director, Fr Mariyan Miranda to come on stage. He prayed for the success of the event and invoked divine blessings on all the contestants. She then called the president of MCCP, Sunil Furtado to address the gathering. The president wished everyone and enjoyable evening along with great learning. He also highlighted the next event 'Academic & Career Success Workshop' that is planned on November 10 for the children of class VII to XII. He exhorted the community members to make use of this unique opportunity and ensure that their children take full benefit of this novel programme. He also gave details of the cricket tournament to be held on November 3 and the Christmas Carnival on December 1.
Guests of honour Adolf D’Souza and Joselyn D’Souza were asked to grace the stage. They represented Raphael D’Souza, proprietor of Muscat Golden Services, a major benefactor of MCCP. They along with the entire executive committee (Team 26) declared the competition open by the symbolic cutting of the ribbon.
Dynet Fernandes, the cultural secretary, introduced the quiz master of the show, Hala Jamal and his team who have been winners in many major quiz competitions and who have conducted more than 50 such shows in Oman. She also appreciated their passion for promoting quizzes as a means to develop creative young minds in Oman.
Hala Jamal then took over the proceedings and introduced the format to all those present. He promised them a full-fledged quiz show incorporating innovative and latest methods of quizzing with clues given in all possible formats such as audios, videos, images etc. He even asked the audience to be on their toes as many questions would be directed at them as well.
The preliminary round was a written round of 26 interesting questions with answers alphabetical order. There was a short break before the quiz master announced the teams who had made it to the next round. During the break, a dazzling dance performance was presented by JzoneD Team comprising of Anisha Dcosta, Calida Machado, Christine Danthi, Lanette Rego, Lovette Rego, Nicole D’Souza, Pearl Lewis, Reia Correa, Renessa Walder and Rochelle Correa, choreographed by Dynet Fernandes and Jeyal Tharakan. Zino Saldanha rendered a beautiful Konkani song to further enliven the evening. Terrance D’Souza, the sports secretary then conducted a few interesting spot games for the audience to get their share of prizes. These high-value prizes were sponsored by Sea pearl LLC and Marmul Travels.
After the break, the quizmaster returned to announce the winners of the preliminary round. He announced the three teams to qualify directly to the finals and six teams to battle it out in the semi-finals to decide the other three to make it to the finals. The semi-final round was a quick fire ten question buzzer round. The most alert and quickest top three in this tough round made it to the finals. The unanswered questions by the contestants were thrown open to the audience by the quizmaster and many in the audience walked away with prizes by giving the right answers. These audience prizes were sponsored by Sweets of Oman, courtesy George Andrade.
The final round heightened the interest among all present with three rounds of intense quizzing. Fortune favoured the brave who took chances to answer some really tough questions. The team ‘Query Nation’ raced ahead and won with a margin of 10 points over the other teams. However, there was a tie for the third position, with two teams scoring equal points. Then the quizmaster asked the tie breaker question, which was correctly answered by the team ‘No Brainers’. They then walked away bagging the third position and the team ‘The Three Emoji's’ settled for the fourth position.
The winning teams were:
First position: Team 'Query Nation' consisting of Adolf Dsouza, Ashley Dsouza and Melroy Fernandes
Second position: Team 'Quiz Bolters' consisting of Lael Alva, Leanne Alva and Melita Alva
Third position: Team 'No Brainers' consisting of AjithWalder, Renessa Walder and Ancil James Concesso.
The Team-26 presented all the contestants with certificates of participation for their enthusiastic participation. Eula Pinto, a long standing benefactor of MCCP, was called onstage to join the president in presenting all the three winning teams with trophies, certificates and prizes.
Jane Castelino, general secretary delivered the vote of thanks and acknowledged all the sponsors as well as those who worked tirelessly to make this event a success. She cited Terrance DSouza for his efforts in putting forth this show.
It was overall a tremendous learning experience for the community members present as they were taken through an international level of professional quizzing. It was heartening to see adults as well as children of our emerging with flying colours. Smiles filled faces as there were no losers declared but only gainers.
The sponsors for the event were, Al Dastoor Contracting & Trading LLC (Ahmed Rayees – courtesy Francis Pinto), Badr Al Samaa group of hospitals (courtesy Philomena Mendonca) and Marmul Travel & Tours (Mebal Pinto – courtesy Vijai Dcunha).
The sponsors for the year are:
Platinum sponsor: Muscat Golden Services LLC (Raphael D’Souza)
Gold sponsors: Omantel (courtesy Eula Pinto) and Technofit Trading LLC (Liguory and Margaret D’Mello)
Silver sponsors: Marmul Hospitality group of travels, Exchange & Hotel Golden Oasis (Mabel Pinto - courtesy Vijai D’Cunha), National Finance Company SAOG (Robert Pancras - courtesy Francis Pinto)
Bronze sponsors: Sea Pearls LLC (Riyas - courtesy Francis Pinto), Prestige Projects and Engineering Supplies Co LLC (Denis Mascarenhas) and Zahrat Al Rawdha Trading (Raphael Quadras)