The BC Cup 2025 - Report

 Set by Aditya Gadre, Aniket Khasgiwale and Yash Marathe

Format: 30 question elim to determine the 8 quarter finalists. 60 question quarter to determine the top 4 for the semi finals. 40 question semi-final to determine the top 2. A 28 question final to determine the winner.

Report

The 16th edition of the BC Cup took place at the Boat Club steps on the 4th of October, 2025 - continuing from last year's schedule of doing this in the second half of the year but for completely different reasons - this year saw Aniket Khasgiwale return to the BC for the first time in at least 5 editions and scheduling was done around this visit. He sure chose a good edition to attend as this was one of the most closely contested and certainly most dramatic BC Cups ever.  The proximity to Dussehra and the festive season perhaps impacted the turnout with many regulars not making it - something to correct for next year. 

The elims this year turned out to one of the toughest in years with the cut off going as low as 9. The top score was 15 by Rohit Suresh and among those just missing out was two-time runner up Ingit sir (Venkatraghavan S)  

The Quarters: 

The top 8 in the quarter finals were: 

Anannya Deb, Suraj Menon, Prithwish Datta, Amlan Sanyal (his first time in the quarters), Deepanjan Deb aka DD, Arnold D'Souza, Samrat Sengupta and Rohit Suresh. 

The quarters started slowly with most players struggling to get on the board. Arnold had a great start racing away to 4 points while everyone else was on 1 or 2. As the quarters went on everyone found their rhythm and started cracking answers - there were a few frustrations on account of the luck of the draw with directs going to those who absolutely didn't want them but that is par for the course. Arnold slowed down in the second half and got stuck on 5 - while others slowly caught up. Amlan and DD were standout performers consistently getting answers and chugging along, Rohit had a late surge and cemented his place in the semi as well - all 3 with scores of 9. Suraj and Prithwish - last years finalists were tied with Arnold on 5 with 3 questions to go - and both got one each to tie on 6 for the last question - with only 1 spot left. The last question was a deep cut on India - which passed all the way around only to be stopped by DD - which forced a tie breaker and ensured that only one of last year's finalists would make it to the semis. The tie breaker was also tied after 3 questions and Suraj won the sudden death to book his place in the semi once again. 

The Semis: 

The top 4 were: DD, Suraj, Rohit, Amlan 

The semis started as many BC semis start - with Suraj hitting his stride and getting 2 of the first 3 to put pressure on the others. But this being the year of drama, the others pulled out all stops and caught up equally quickly. With 3 questions to go, the scores stood at 8 for Suraj, 6 each for Rohit and Amlan and 5 for DD - the familiar trope of DD self-combusting seeming to be the likely outcome yet again. But DD showed the strong mindset mentality that he holds in high regard and cracked 2 of the last 3 to storm into the final with 7 points - facing the five time champion Suraj. 

The Finals:

If you thought the quarters were dramatic, the semis blew those out of the water, and then finals went even further. We started with the toss that Suraj won and put DD in first. Suraj who often shows a Thanos-esque inevitability in he finals did so again with wide ranging answers across sports to take an early lead of 3-0. DD answered a toughie on tennis to open his account. The score stood at 3-1 after the first leg. All 3 goals being scored away gave him almost an extra goal in terms of advantage. He started his own set with a crack answer on squash - something DD would have surely hoped to score - to make it 4-1. DD then pulled one back with the last question of the set to make it 4-2 (away goals 3-1) - an answer on basketball - a sport that most would expect Suraj to get more than DD. DD's second leg was frustrating for both players as they struggled to recall names they thought they knew. On the last question, Suraj scored again - this time with a cycling answer - to make it 5-2 and add more frustration to DD as this was another away goal (now at 4-1). With Suraj facing 7 directs - surely an iconic 6th win was in the bag but DD had other plans. Like his idol,  MS Dhoni, DD left it late to score 2 goals and make it 5-4 (away goals 4-3) going into the last question. And as fate would have it, the last question was on India and more importantly on hockey at the Olympics. Suraj missed, DD answered to force a dramatic tie at 5-5 with away goals at 4-4. The BC Cup final would go to a penalty shootout for only the 2nd time ever (the last time this happened, Suraj beat Prithwish 1-0). Both finalists kept missing questions till 4 kicks down we were still at 0-0 looking perilously close to sudden death. The last question again was on India - Suraj missed, DD scored and sealed the most remarkable of comeback wins - at the quiz that means more to him than any other. 

BC Cup 2025 Winner: Deepanjan Deb 

Runner up: Suraj Menon

List of BC Cup Winners:

2009: Sameer Deshpande and Suraj Menon

2010: Anannya Deb

2011: Anannya Deb

2012: Sumant Srivathsan

2013: Ramkey V

2014: Prithwish Datta

2015: Samrat Sengupta

2016: Shrirang Raddi

2017: Suraj Menon

2018: Suraj Menon

2019: Prithwish Datta

2020: No tournament

2021: Deepanjan Deb

2022: Suraj Menon

2023: Suraj Menon

2024: Prithwish Datta

2025: Deepanjan Deb