CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) is co-hosting the 58th Inter-IIT Sports Meet, the country’s oldest and largest student sporting event among centrally funded technical institutes, along with IIT-Hyderabad and IIT-Tirupati.
As part of the annual event, IIT-M is hosting the 39th Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet 2025 on its campus for 6 days till October 5 (Sunday).
The meet was inaugurated on September 30 (Tuesday) by Olympic swimmer and Arjuna Awardee Sebastian Xavier, in the presence of IIT-M Director V Kamakoti, Dean (Students) Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, faculty members, sports officials, and student participants.
Kamakoti said, “We’re happy to host the Aquatics Meet here. This time, IIT-M, IIT-Hyderabad, and IIT-Tirupati — representing first, second, and third-generation IITs — have come together to organise the event.”
Addressing the gathering, Xavier said that he had trained at the IIT-M pool in the 1980s. “Coming from a village without pools, I began swimming in a river and went on to compete at the Olympics,” he recalled, wishing success to participants.
Seventeen IITs are participating in the meet, which includes swimming, water polo and diving events. Over 400 athletes are competing at the Olympic-standard 50m pool on the IIT-M campus.
IIT-Madras, which has won the General Championship 24 times, introduced sports-based admissions in 2024 through the Sports Excellence Admission (SEA) scheme, reserving two supernumerary seats in every UG programme for candidates with national or international sporting achievements.
The Main Sports Meet, featuring over 3,000 athletes, will be held from December 14-21 across the three host institutions.