The Sanmar Group has, over the years, earned a good reputation for itself on the quizzing circuit at Chennai. Earlier achievements included a first place finish at the CRY quiz in 1999, and a second place at the National Management Quiz, 1999, conducted by the All India Management Association (AIMA).
After a brief hiatus, Sanmar reestablished its credentials on the quizzing scene with a creditable performance at the National Management Quiz 2003, conducted by AIMA on March 12, 2003. The
southern regional final was hotly contested with some 30 teams taking part. There was a written preliminary round with each team having to answer 30 questions. The contest covered a whole span of topics, ranging from management concepts to brand name origins and even general awareness (a sampler – the name of which brand means “Three Oceans”? Which HR modelling tool is the Hay Group most famous for? Through which mountain pass in India does the world’s largest metalled road pass? ).
Six of the 30 teams qualified for the southern regional final, one of which was the Sanmar team represented by A H Kesari Prasad (Vice President – Marketing, Xomox Sanmar) and Ramkumar Shankar (Asst.Vice President – MIS & Business Analysis, SEC Corporate). The other contenders included a team from Sify and some independent teams comprising some of the best quizzers at Chennai.
After a gruelling seven rounds, the Sanmar team came up trumps and were crowned southern regional winners. Sify finished second and the well-known independent team of Yeshwant Saran and V V Ramanan finished third. The teams from Sanmar and Sify went on to represent the southern region at the All India Final held at Kolkata on March 14. The regional winners and runners-up from the four zones vied for top honours at this event. At the end of 90 minutes of exciting quizzing, which saw fortunes seesawing, the Sanmar team finished third all India, behind NTPC, Delhi and L&T Mumbai.