After the pandemic and ensuing disruptions, Odisha’s most awaited and popular mega-quiz event is back. The biggest quiz fiesta in Eastern India, ‘Mettle Meet’ is all set to resume its fifth edition August 5 and 6. As part of the 12th-anniversary celebrations of Orissa POST, the only homegrown English daily, a string of reputable educational institutions – both schools and colleges – of the state will lock horns for the top honours at the annual grand quiz fest at Bhubaneswar August 5 & 6 (Saturday & Sunday). The Preliminaries and Finals will take place at Hotel Swosti Premium, Bhubaneswar.
Around 72 teams (Junior and Senior) are participating in the grand quiz competition. Like in previous years, this year too, the participating schools and colleges will be categorized into two segments. Students till Class XII (Junior) comprise the first category, while the second category will be for students in Plus-III and other streams, including Engineering, Medical, and Management (Senior).
Continuing the tradition, a Quiz Master of national repute will be conducting the Preliminaries and Finals. The top eight teams from each of the two segments (Junior & Senior) will qualify for the summit clash round (Finals). Mettle Meet started in 2016 with a view to reviving the art of quizzing in Odisha. College of Engineering and Technology (CET) Bhubaneswar won the inaugural edition wherein 18 teams participated. The overwhelming response compelled Orissa POST to organise the event every year. Since then, the participation increased, in fact, more than doubled in 2017 when 45 teams from across the state took part and made the event a phenomenal success. SAI International School clinched the trophy in the Junior category and NIT Rourkela bagged the top honours in the Senior category. The 2018 edition saw educational institutions from across all districts of Odisha converging in Bhubaneswar to take part in the quiz. The number of participating institutions grew to 68.
Like in 2017, the competition was conducted in two categories – Junior and Senior segments. Keen competition was witnessed in the Preliminary rounds with the top eight teams qualifying for the Grand Finale. In the Junior Finals, Mother’s Public School emerged as champions. DAV (CDA) and DAV Pokhariput finished first and second runners-up, respectively. The Senior Finals was a thrilling affair with CET and KIIT locking horns in a see-saw battle.
Quizmaster Venkatesh Srinivasan had to implement tie-breaker questions three successive times before the deadlock was finally broken and, CET emerged triumphant for the second time in three years. KIIT University again had to be contended with the first runners-up spot, while Silicon University of Technology finished second runners-up. The 2019 edition of Odisha’s biggest quiz fest – Mettle Meet – saw the participation of as many as 88 teams from reputable educational institutions across the coastal state.
Mother’s Public School emerged as champion in the Junior category defeating its closest rival DAV Public School, Unit-VIII, Bhubaneswar by a good margin. DAV Public School, CDA, and Cuttack were the second runners-up in the category. In the Senior category, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology (IGIT), Sarang bagged the top award by answering nail-biting questions posed by quizmaster Ajay Poonia. While the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela was the first runners up, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar was the second runners up in the category.