Imperial Rock Paper Scissors Championships

The first Imperial Rock Paper Scissors Championships, organised by Sport Imperial, was held at the South Kensington Campus on Friday 5 October.

The first Imperial Rock Paper Scissors Championships, organised by Sport Imperial, was held at the South Kensington Campus on Friday 5 October.

Shortly before 12.30 students gathered under the Queen’s Tower and the event was opened by Dennis Wright, Dean of Students and Jane Neary, Director of Commercial Services.  After a brief demo by Dennis and Jane, the event commenced with a warm up session, to help participants limber up before the big event. Students were grouped and each game was ceremoniously opened with a traditional greeting between players, symbolising the cherished values of respect and honour in the sport.  After around an hour of tense competition, Alan Soltani, an undergraduate student in Physics department and Sonali Campion, a member of staff at Imperial Hub were the only remaining competitors left fighting to be crowned Imperial RPS Champion.  In the end, after an intense and hotly contested final round, Alan was finally crowned Imperial’s first RPS winner, to the delight of the excited crowd.

Alan and Sonali will now both represent Imperial in the UK National RPS Championships on 13 October, which will be held in Penderel's Oak Pub.

Alan said, “I still can’t believe I won it! I decided to give it a go because it sounds fun, but I wasn't expecting myself to win.  But I am so pleased with myself and am very excited about the National Championship. I am really looking forward to it!”

Sonali also commented after the competition, “I'm still in shock! It started off fairly relaxed but as I climbed the steps it got more and more intense. When I lost the 4th game I thought it was all over, so realising I'd made the final was fantastic. I was disappointed to miss out on the overall title - there was a moment I thought I had it in the bag - but Alan was a worthy winner. I'm looking forward to testing my skills on the national stage next week."

Neil Mosley, Head of Sport Imperial later enthused that “Sport Imperial has always been devoted to enhance students and staff experience at Imperial. We hope this event gives people, especially new students, a different way to meet new people.  This is our first Imperial RPS Championships and given everyone’s involvement and response today, we think it could become a new tradition at Imperial!”

Note: Imperial students and staff can also enter the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championship at a discounted rate with the code ‘Imperial RPS’.