Kerala: Pallathuruthy Boat Club's 'Mahadevikkadu Kattil Thekkethil' wins Nehru Trophy for third time
Sep 04, 2022
Alappuzha (Kerala) [India], September 4 : Pallathuruthy boat club on Sunday won the 68th edition of Nehru Trophy for a boat race held on Punnamada lake in Alappuzha district of Kerala.
In the boat race, 'Mahadevikkadu Kattil Thekkethil' by Pallathuruthy boat club won the trophy while NCDC Boat club's 'Nadubhagam' of Kumarakam won the title of runner's up.
As many as 77 boats, including 20 snake boats had participated in the race under nine categories.
Initially, 22 snake boats were supposed to participate in the race, but two withdrew their participation from the race, and brought it down to 20.
In this, the boat of Pallathuruthy boat club won the title by clearing the distance of 1.15 km in 4.30.77 minutes.
This is the hattrick title victory of Pallathuruthy in the Nehru trophy, with Santhosh Chacko as the captain of this boat.
"We were sure that the team will clear the victory for the third time," said one of the winning team members told ANI.
'Nadubhagam' owned by NCDC Boat club, Kumarakom, who won the runners up trophy finished the same distance in 4.31.57 minutes, while the 'Veeyapuram Chundan' by Punnamada boat club won the third price.
A boat 'Chambakkulam Chundan' owned by the police club further won the fourth place in the race.
This 68th edition of Nehru Trophy Boat Race, which held after a break of two years due to Covid-19 pandemic, was flagged off by chief guest DK Joshi, Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar.
The race was inaugurated by Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal, in the absence of its Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kerala Tourism and PWD minister PA Muhammad Riyas and Agricultural Minister P Prasad were also present at the function.
However, the race was kick-started 15 minutes late, over thousands of people had arrived to witness it. The heat rounds were conducted with four teams each and the top four teams that recorded the fastest timings competed in the finals.
The snake boat dimensions and crew are typically about 40 metres long, 1.5 metres wide, with 130 oarsmen.
