‘Kushti’ (wrestling), as usual, was a major crowd puller in this year’s Hampi Utsav too. The venue was filled with people from Ballari and surrounding districts, encircling the ‘akhada’, undeterred by the scorching heat, cheering on their favourite wrestlers.
Around 80 participants, including women wrestlers from within and surrounding districts, enthralled the crowd with their wrestling skills.
It may be mentioned here that ‘Kushti,’ a popular sport during the Vijayanagar period, enjoys the same status even today. The Vijayanagar kings had established an ‘akhada’ (wrestling arena) near the Sisters’ Stones, which is close to the royal enclosure. There are pictures on the compound wall surrounding the akhada depicting the different ‘dav pech’ (tricks) to overpower opponents with place for the public to sit and watch the matches.
There are several places in and around Hampi and Hospet city to groom young ‘pehlwans’ (wrestlers).
A coracle race for fisherfolk was also organised at the utsav this year, which became a big attraction. Men and women separately participated in the event organised at ancient Kamalapur tank on Sunday, under the supervision of NOPASANA (National organisation for Promotion of Adventure Sports and Nature).
As many as 30 teams, including a seven women’s teams, took part. Pompapati and Nagaraj bagged the first prize of ₹5,000, followed by Hanumanth and Raju, and then Ramu and Ravi.
In the women’s section, Govindamma and Nanda bagged the first prize, for the third time in succession. Hampamma and Rani and Manamma and Jayanti bagged the second and third prizes respectively.
In addition, there was a weight-lifting competitions too.
