GUWAHATI, Jan 20 � Debraj Bhattacharjee and Shakya Shamik Kar Khound of DPS Digboi became the first team to win the highest ever winners� prize money of Rs 5 lakh in the country at the grand finale of the NRL Quiz 2010-11, held at the Pragjyoti-ITA cultural complex last night.
Debraj and Shakya, who called themselves �DPS Hunters�, beat the first runners-up �The Rhinos� comprising Kapinjal Kisor Sharma and Rahul Agarwal representing the Institute of Computer Accountants, Nagaon, and the second runners-up, �Illuminati�, comprising Syed Shakeel Imdad and Lucas Baishya representing Army Public School, Narengi, a statement from NRL said.
The prize money for the first runners-up and second runners-up teams was Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.
The NRL Quiz that kicked off in Golaghat on the November 29, 2010, witnessed hectic quizzing across eight zones during the preliminary zonal rounds that covered all the districts of the State. The preliminaries received tremendous response with a total of more than 300 teams participating in the zonal rounds. Twenty-four teams comprising the top three teams from every zone were selected to participate in the grand finale from amongst whom the six teams were screened for the final.
The quizmaster of the grand event was the eloquent Barry O�Brien, a teacher, an MLA and veteran of more than 2,000 quizzes. O�Brien enthralled the audience with questions of the highest standard while ensuring at the same time that the quiz was a fun by incorporating pictures, music and cryptic questions.
Talking of the quiz, O�Brien said, �I thought Guwahati had the highest quizzing standards in the State, but I have been proven wrong. Now I urge the quizzards from Guwahati to raise their standard to meet the standards of these breed of young quizzards from across Assam. With such high standards, I am sure young teams from Assam are at par with any other party from the country.�
Dr Bhupati Das, MD, NRL, in his message, said, �I am sure this quizzing extravaganza, which would be a biennial event from this year onwards will generate a lot of enthusiasm amongst the students of the State and enhance their quest for knowledge.�
The NRL Quiz, organized by Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), is a State-level inter-institutional mega quizzing event, as part of NRL�s CSR initiative to provide a platform and promote the spirit of education, knowledge and sporting spirit amongst the students of the State.
