Spogomi World Cup 2023: Team from Chennai to represent India at trash picking event  

Team from Chennai beat 28 other groups to compete for the Spogomi World Cup 2023 scheduled to be held in November. The trash-picking event will see participation from 21 countries

Three youngsters from Chennai — Sharun A, Amrit A and Madhusudhan Radha Thanikasalam— will represent India at the first Spogomi World Cup 2023 scheduled to be held in Japan in November.

SPOGOMI (SPO standing for Sports; and GOMI in Japanese standing for ‘picking up litter’) is a competition where the winner is decided based on the amount of trash collected by them.

The trio — all of them in their early 20s — competed with 28 teams from various cities on the sands of Besant Nagar beach for the qualifying event held on July 9, organised by The Nippon Foundation.

Cirqt and ViDHAI Recycling were among partners that coordinated the event in Chennai.

While Sharun and Amrit are brothers, Madusudhan is a colleague of the former at Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI). The team got a wildcard entry and scored 6500 points, way ahead of the runners-up that scored 2800 points.

To qualify, teams had to register either through a ‘quiz stage’ or an ‘art stage. The trio chose the former.

Organising the event in Chennai provided them with a home advantage. Bessie is familiar ground to the three. They have been active volunteers at clean-up events at Bessie. “We regularly conduct clean-up drives with communities and corporates, where I am actively involved and have also organised trash picking competitions,” says Sharun, chief design officer, EFI.