IU foosball club preps for match vs. Purdue

IU will once again face off against Purdue University, but it’s not in football or basketball— it’s in foosball.

The Old Oaken Table, as it will be called, will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday outside of the bowling alley in the Indiana Memorial Union.

The foosball match will be a best-of-seven series, with three singles matches and four doubles matches. On top of bragging rights, the winner will get possession of a trophy, created by the foosball club.

Senior Sharan Kukreja, president of the “Foosiers,” had been trying to set a match up for a while, but it wasn’t until Purdue contacted him that Kukreja was able to organize the first-ever intercollegiate foosball match for the IU foosball club.

“I’d been trying to talk with other schools,” Kukreja said. “Michigan also has a foosball club, but I never got a response. Then over the summer, Purdue had just started a foosball club and they contacted me asking how to run the club and I gave them tips. Then I told him we can play a game.”

A new aspect of the IU vs. Purdue rivalry was born.

The IU foosball club enters this match confident that their years of experience, compared to Purdue’s short existence, will give the Foosiers the advantage.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll win it,” said senior member Sandeep Belani.

The Foosiers have been practicing for a couple weeks in preparation, generating seeds for the best-of-seven series.

Belani, the top seed as of earlier this week, has been playing foosball since his childhood in Dubai and said he “was shocked when (he) came to IU and found out that there was a foosball club.”

He had reason for disbelief, as most other schools do not have foosball clubs.

Members of the Foosiers said they are hoping their match against Purdue will help bring to in more foosball matches, or at least spark the beginning of more foosball clubs around the Big Ten.

“We’d like it to become a trend,” said senior club treasurer Pat Mullins. “We have to keep looking around, but since they are not that popular, we’re trying to make it more well known.”