IIIT students win 'SOA Quiz Wiz'

The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bhubaneswar, students Akash Choudhury and Satwik Raut won the ‘SOA Quiz Wiz’, a national-level quiz competition among undergraduate students, at the SOA University here on Sunday.

The duo staved off stiff competition from Bedbyas Dutta and Sumit Josh of St Xaviers College, Kolkata, to lift the crown. Choudhury and Raut, who notched 97.5 points, just two points more than the Kolkata team, won a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh while Dutta and Josh took home ` 60,000. Sampad Pattnaik and Pawan Piyush of CET, Bhubaneswar, finished third to win Rs 40,000.

A large number of teams, from the State and outside, participated in the gruelling contest of which six teams survived the preliminary round to qualify for the final. The other three finalists, from BJB Autonomous College, KIIT University and National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, were presented cash awards of Rs 5,000 each.

The six finalist teams were named after six missiles _ Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul, Nag and Brahmos.

Eminent quiz master Dhananjay Shettigar from Quizmonk, Mumbai, conducted it.

Nihar Parihar, Principal, Insurance Global Delivery, Hyderabad, the chief guest, gave away the prizes while SOA University Vice- Chancellor Prof RP Mohanty presided.