Tournament Roundup: Ashoka at Surge ’26, Shiv Nadar University

The last tournament of the monsoon semester brought a gold in men’s football, two silvers in men’s badminton and squash, a litany of semi-final appearances and some stern reality checks for the Ashokan sports contingents.

Eighteen Ashokan sports teams across ten disciplines were in action at SURGE 2026 from 29th October to 1st November. The sports fest of Shiv Nadar University (SNU) is one of the toughest fixtures in the tournament calendar, featuring many of the top university sports teams in the Northern India circuit. And, as the last tournament before Ashoka University’s own sports fest, Agneepath, it has historically provided the firmest appraisal of teams’ performances and progress — and a reminder of the improvements required to achieve home glory come spring.

It was a dream campaign for the men’s football team, who began the tournament as the defending champions and beat SNU 1-0 in the final to retain their crown. Attackers Denzel Chinda (UG '28) and Uday Choudhary (UG '29) were the stars of the group stage with two goals apiece to beat Christ NCR 2-0 and Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma 2-1, respectively. A tough quarter-final tie against Bennett ended goalless before a 4-3 penalty shootout win. Goals from Chirag Kulshreshtha and captain Bhavin Shivaa (both UG '27) delivered a 2-0 semi-final win over longtime rivals OP Jindal, before Shivaa’s penalty in the gold medal match proved enough to seal the gold.

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  The Ashoka Men's Football team won gold at Surge '26. (Photo: Aneek Chatterjee)

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  The Ashoka Men's Badminton Team won silver at Surge '26. (Photo: Shaan Kejriwal)

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  The Ashoka Men's Squash Team won silver at Surge '26. (Photo: Ved Bubna)

But their defeat of the hosts proved an aberration of the wider pattern, with four Ashoka teams losing to SNU in the semi-finals and finals across badminton, squash and chess.

Both the men’s badminton and squash teams finished as beaten runners-up and settled for silver.

Badminton stars Aakarshit Sinha (MA '26) and captain Shaan Kejriwal (UG '28) delivered a series of dominant performances both individually in singles and together in doubles to secure wins over South Asian University (3-0), Sharda (3-1) and Manipal University Jaipur (3-1). A stroke of earned luck saw a walkover decide an epic 3-2 semi-final win over Shri Ram College of Commerce. But hosts SNU proved too strong in the final, inflicting a 3-1 defeat.

Men’s squash won both their pool stage matches against Bennett and SNU B, before overcoming Hansraj College 2-1 in the semi-final. But it was not to be, as they lost 0-2 to SNU A.

A number of Ashokan teams made it to the final four but went out in the semi-finals.

Women’s badminton suffered the same fate as their men’s team, losing to hosts SNU 0-2 in the semi-final. Ashoka had earlier notched up 2-0 wins over Bennett and Sharda en route to the knockouts, courtesy of strong displays by Jia Misra (UG '28), Aditi Bajaj (UG '30) and Roja Roy (UG '30). Women’s squash too made it to the final four but were eliminated by Jindal.

Also suffering heartbreak at the hands of the hosts were the chess team, losing by a single point to SNU Alumni in the semi-final. Abhinav Banerjee (UG '29), Vishuddh Nishchhal (UG '29), Yashasvi Gupta (UG '28) and Pranav Ananthasubramanyam  (UG '28) recorded three draws and one loss across the four tables.

As for the men’s tennis A team, even beating three out of the four SNU teams was not enough. Naman Anshumaan (UG '28), Deaven Sarraf (UG '30), Tanish Garg (UG '30) and Vibhu Singh  (UG '27) won all three group-stage matches against SNU B, SNU C and SNU Alumni, but could not overcome SNU A in the semi-final. Results elsewhere were altogether more sour, with the men's B team and both women's A and B teams suffering group-stage exits.

The women’s basketball team recorded dominant wins over CT University Ludhiana, Manipal University Jaipur and Jindal, with Kaitlyn Machado (UG '27), Radha Hingne (UG '29) and Sohila Gill (UG '29) driving the team to the final four, where they were beaten by Miranda House in the semi-final. The men's basketball team were knocked out in the group stage after 56-40 and 33-19 losses to SNU and JIIT, despite strong performances from UG '27s Shubhay Agarwal and captain Gian Adri. Both teams showed remarkable character throughout the tournament and wore black armbands in their matches in honour of their late coach, Mr Himanshu Khatri.

Cricket marked a proud moment for Ashoka as the women's team made its tournament debut and finished second in their pool. The Reds suffered a last-ball defeat to Bharati College in their campaign opener, before recording a resounding 39-run win over SNU A to notch their first competitive victory. Captain Sana Todi (UG '28) delivered with both bat and ball in both matches, supported by Tara Hebbar (UG '28), Amal Marei Alkhalf (UG '30) and Kashvi Parwal (UG '29) with the bat and Mannat Singh (UG '29) with the ball.

The men's draw, played in direct knockouts, saw Ashoka eliminated in the quarter-final by Sri Venkateswara College, who chased down the target of 98 with four overs to spare. The Reds had earlier beaten Jindal by 11 runs, riding promising performances from UG '30 freshers Ishaan Yathiraj, Anay Deo Singh and Pratik Luharuka.

Women's volleyball were beaten 2-0 by Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women in the quarter-finals. The men's team were knocked out after 2-1 and 2-0 defeats to JIIT and SNU, respectively.

Both women’s football teams finished the tournament with a win and a loss each. Ashoka A beat Jesus and Mary College B 7-0, with a hat-trick from captain Mythili Vaidya (UG '28) and a brace from Kavya Murugan (UG '29), but lost 1-0 to Kamala Nehru College. Ashoka B lost 3-0 to Lady Shri Ram, before goals from UG '30 freshers Amishi Sureka and Annika Banger earned a 2-1 win over Christ NCR. Both teams finished second in their respective groups and were knocked out.

Table tennis too suffered twin group-stage exits. The men's team received a walkover from Jindal and won against BML Munjal, but lost to Babu Banarasi Das University and Kirori Mal College. The women's team lost to Christ NCR and Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women.

Multiple semi-final heartbreaks and an underwhelming return of only three medals at Surge raise both pressure and expectations for the sports teams as they look toward preseason in January and Agneepath a month thereafter. Making amends for their defeats and converting the quarter- and semi-final near-misses into podium finishes will surely be top of the agenda.