The cream of the brightest young minds in the UAE and other Gulf countries gathered at the Crowne Plaza Dubai auditorium on 16th February 2005 for a battle royale among young students in this year’s Siemens e-Quiz 2005.

Six successful students emerged in the seniors and juniors categories out of a total of 16 finalists. This year’s quiz competition conducted by Quiz Master Wiz Abbas and sponsored by Siemens Mobile Device attracted a total of 20,000 participants who competed in the dubaiquiz.com online eliminations. Out of this number, 300 qualified - 150 in the seniors categories and 150 in the juniors.

Sanjit Rajayer of Indian High School took the first place in the seniors with 135 points, Kiran Dadhakrishnan of Abu Dhabi Indian School placed second with 100 points while Pranita Fernandes of Dubai Modern School and the lone female finalist took third place with 75 points. Ismail Mohammed, Gulf Model School (fourth place) 55 points, Shrivats Mohan, Dubai Modern High School (fifth place) 50 points, Radhesh Nair, Indian High School Dubai (sixth place) 40 points, Vibin Varghese, Indian High School, Dubai (seventh place) 30 points and Sharvil Kapadia, Indian High School, Dubai (eight place) 20 points.

In the juniors category Manish Raje of Delhi Private School, Sharjah was the topper with 110 points; Vaishakh Chandrashekhar of American Academy School, Dubai placed second with 96 points; Gaurav Jha of Indian High School Dubai was third with 85 points. Ashwin Menon, Indian High School, Dubai (fourth place) 80 points, Abhilash Krishnan, Abu Dhabi Indian High School, (fifth place) 75 points; Akshay Harikumar, Delhi Private School, Sharjah (sixth place) 30 points; Vikram Krubai, Indian High School Dubai (seventh place) 35 points and Abhilash Sudarsanam (Our Own English High School Dubai (eight place) 20 points.

Wiz Abbas, who conducts the E-Quiz 2002 or the SKC program on Zee TV worked as backup quizmaster for famous personalities such as Siddhartha Basu and Derek O’Brien conducted this year’s quiz competition. Participants faced not only regular quiz questions on general knowledge and history but they also answered multimedia questions with audio visual prompts.

Aimed at students from the age of eight to 18 years old, this year’s Siemens E-Quiz participants did not only come from the UAE but also from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Participants have come from a total of 65 schools. “It has attracted 12 corporate partners and 36 distributor outlets. The outlets distribute the Book of Knowledge, which is one way of entering the quizzing competition.

“In its fourth year, Siemens e-Quiz 2005 has grown from strength to strength attracting 20,000 student participants this year from six countries in the Gulf,” said Jamshed Mehdi, CEO of Dubaiquiz.com. Dubaiquiz.com is the quizzing division of Mind Direct FZ LLC. “Siemens e-Quiz, has become the flag ship quiz event combining the power of the internet with a real world experience (offline finals).”

“Siemens Mobile Devices has always been an advocate of the growth and development of young minds,” said Shahzad Ahmed, Director Marketing, Siemens Mobile Devices, Middle East and Africa. “Hundreds of young competitors have battled it out for the past few months, outwitting each other through a series of competitive tests. The final round will determine the winner of what has become one of the most anticipated social events for youth, as well as an annual success continuously supported by Siemens Mobile Devices.”

Apart from the certificates and the winners trophies, other great prizes are up for grabs – Siemens mobile phones, Altec Lansing Speakers, Adventureland Cards, DVD Players, VCD Players, MP3 Players, Digicams, Cameras, Books, Encyclopedias and much more. Exciting audience prizes also to be won. Contact 04-3911960 to get your free passes to the show.

Siemens e-Quiz is supported by associate sponsor Hum FM, key sponsors Graphic International, Star Cruises, Cheetah Networks and Camlin, media partner and support sponsors Adventureland, Crystal Arc and Gulf Technical Commercial Printing Press.