Tirupati: Kabaddi fever grips temple city

Tirupati: Rising strong from the recent deluge, which had wreaked havoc across the temple city and the district, Tirupati is gearing up to begin the New Year on a strong note. From January 5, it is all set to host a five-day National Kabaddi Tournament under the aegis of Municipal Corporation of Tirupati and the Tirupati Smart City Corporation Limited.

MCT officials are making all efforts to ensure smooth conduct of the event. City MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy has been actively involved in the arrangements. Various programmes are being organised as a prelude to the prestigious and first time ever sporting event which no other civic body has planned.

As part of it, a series of events being held daily to bring the tempo in the city. The MLA along with the Civic authorities held separate meetings with the representatives of educational institutions and Chamber of Commerce on Thursday seeking their cooperation and to involve them in the conduct of the tourney. The day also marked the felicitations for former Kabaddi players which gave the much-needed hype to the event. It will be held at different venues in the city during January 5-9 and the winners of tournament, both men and women teams will be presented with the 'Tirupati Corporation Gold Cup' along with a prize money of Rs 2.50 lakh each. The teams, who finish with the second, will get Rs 1.25 lakh each while Rs 1 lakh will be given as the third prize followed by Rs 75 lakh to those who end up with fourth place. The best men and women players will be presented with two-wheelers.

The inaugural event is also being planned in a big way. Though, the full details are yet to be finalised, prominent sports personalities like Pullela Gopichand and Karanam Malleswari along with a few others may bring the star attraction to the tourney in which about 40 teams with 700 players including men and women are expected to take part from 22 states across the country.

The organisers have already held a 5K-run and unveiled the logo along with the flag. They even launched an audio 'Khelo Kabaddi' as part of making the tourney popular everywhere. MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, Mayor Dr R Sirisha, Commissioner P S Girisha and other officials have been taking meticulous care to make the tourney a grand success.

They sought suggestions from the Chamber of Commerce and others. The MLA and Mayor have said that they want the active involvement and cooperation from the people of the city. A big rally has been planned to be held on December 29 in the city with students. They suggested the traders to set up Kabaddi tourney banners at every shop and distribute pamphlets to the customers.