Will Hand of New Zealand and Giulia Zagnoni of Italy have won the prestigious titles of Rapid Raja and Rapid Rani respectively at the fifth edition of the International White Water Kayaking Championship 2017 hosted by the Kerala Tourism Department in Kozhikode district.
District panchayat president Babu Parassery conferred the titles on them at the valedictory function held at Pulikkayam in Kodenchery panchayat on Sunday.
The winners of various freestyle and pro categories in Slalom, BoaterCross, Downriver Sprint and Downriver Marathon were also felicitated on the occasion. In the intermediate category, Pulloorampara native Resmi Ramesh won the first prize.
Next edition
The event coordinators, including international delegates, also announced the date of next year’s international kayaking championship on Sunday. They said the next edition of the championship would begin on July 18, 2018. Steps would be taken to include it in the tourism calendar of Kerala to draw more national and international attention to the event, they said. Around 150 contestants from around the world turned up for the fifth edition of the event that began here on July 20. The selected venues were Chalippuzha in Kodenchery grama panchayat, Iruvazhinji river in Thiruvamabady grama panchayat, and Kuttiyady river in Chakkittapara grama panchayat.
