Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) will be co-hosting the 58th Inter-IIT Sports Meet this year, the oldest and largest student sporting event among centrally funded technical institutes in India, with IIT Hyderabad and IIT Tirupati.
As a part of the Sports Meet, IIT Madras will host the Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet 2025 on its campus from 30th September to 5th October 2025.
The Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet 2025 was inaugurated in the campus today (30th Sept 2025) by Chief Guest Mr. Sebastian Xavier, Olympic Swimmer and Arjuna Awardee in the presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Prof. Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, Dean (Students), IIT Madras, faculty members, sports officials and the student participants from various IITs.
The Inter-IIT Sports Meet traces its roots back to 1961, when five IITs—Bombay, Madras, Kharagpur, Kanpur, and Delhi—came together to promote sports and camaraderie. Over the decades, it has grown into a pan-Indian mega event that embodies competition, teamwork, and institute pride.
Lauding the participants from all IITs for their hard work and preparation, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “We are very happy to host the Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet at IIT Madras campus. The Inter-IIT Sports Meet is a very important annual event and this time, Three IITs – IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Tirupati – have joined together to organize the event. For the first time, a First Generation, a Second Generation and a Third Generation IIT have come together to organize this event. We wish all participants and sportspersons all the very best.”
IIT Madras holds a distinguished place in the history of the Inter-IIT Sports Meet, having won the General Championship 24 out of 57 times, a record unmatched by any other IIT. The institute’s most recent victory came in 2023 at IIT Bombay and IIT Gandhinagar.
Addressing the inaugural event, Chief Guest Mr. Sebastian Xavier, Olympic Swimmer and Arjuna Awardee, said, “Today, India has greatly improved in the field of Swimming. I used to practice in the IIT Madras Swimming Pool in the 1980s. In my village, we had no swimming pools and I started swimming in the river. From that river, I reached the level of Olympics. I wish you all the best.”
Welcoming the students from all IITs, Prof. Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, Dean (Students), IIT Madras, “I am proud to see how sports, especially aquatic sports, have grown tremendously within our academically oriented institutions. As you all are aware, participation in sports builds resilience, teamwork, and leadership — qualities that are invaluable in every sphere of life. More importantly, these games foster mutual respect, friendship, and unity among IITs, transcending competition.”
The following 17 IITs are participating in the 39th Edition of Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet 2025 – IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Varanasi, IIT Bhubneswar, IIT Dhanbad, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Guwahati, IIT Indore, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Jodhpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Mandi, IIT Palakkad, IIT Patna, IIT Roorkee and IIT Madras.
This edition of the Inter-IIT Sports Meet promises to be a celebration of athleticism, institute spirit, and national integration, bringing together thousands of students, faculty, and alumni from across the IIT system.
IIT Madras has also been a pioneer in promoting sports through policy innovations. In 2024, it became the first IIT to introduce sports-based admissions through the Sports Excellence Admission (SEA) scheme.
Under this initiative, two supernumerary seats were created in every undergraduate programme — one gender-neutral and one reserved for female students — for candidates who qualified through JEE (Advanced) and had demonstrated excellence by winning medals in national or international sporting events in the past four years.
The event is structured into:
Ø Aquatics Meet (held separately in September/October)
Ø Main Sports Meet (conducted in December)
Ø Staff Sports Meet, a parallel event for teaching and non-teaching staff, was introduced in 1989
The most prestigious award is the General Championship (GC), given to the IIT with the highest cumulative points across all sports.
EVENT DETAILS
Events: Swimming (multiple strokes and distances), Water Polo, and Diving
Participation: Over 400 athletes from 17 IITs
Facilities: Olympic-standard 50m pool at IIT Madras, equipped with modern infrastructure and spectator galleries
Main Sports Meet 2025
Dates: 14 – 21 December 2025
Hosts: IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, and IIT Tirupati
Events: Athletics, Football, Hockey, Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis, Squash, Weightlifting, and Chess
Participation: Over 3,000 athletes from participating IITs
