Men and women from Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts hogged the limelight in the two-day beach volleyball, beach kabaddi and beach football tournaments organised by the district unit of State Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) at Ariyaman beach near here.
Sixty teams from 10 coastal districts vied for honours and men and women from Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts walked away with the maximum prize money of Rs 1.56 lakh, either winning the titles or ending runners-up in the three events on Sunday.
Men from Nagapattinam won the title and women came runner-up in Kabaddi. Nagapattinam men won the title in volleyball and became runner-up in football.
Men from Kanyakumari won the title in football and ended runner-up in kabaddi, while women became runner-up in volleyball and secured the third place in kabaddi. Women from Thanjavur also came out with flying colours, winning the titles in kabaddi and volleyball.
Women from Cuddalore won the tile in the football tournament and the men secured the third place in Kabaddi. Chennai women won the second place in football and the third place in volleyball.
Men brought consolation for the host, winning the second place in volleyball and the third place in football. The women from Tiruvarur won the third place in football and men from Kancheepuram won the third place in volleyball.
Each of 26 players in the men and women sections in the winning teams was given a cash prize of Rs 3,000. While 26 participants were given Rs 2,000 each, 26 players in the teams which secured the third place were given Rs 1,000 each.
Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare S. Sundararaj distributed trophies and prizes.
The event was organised for the second year this year to encourage students from fishing hamlets. The department would take steps to organise the event every year, he said.
Collector K. Nanthakumar appealed to the Minister to allow the district to host the event at Ariyaman every year. He said the district administration had allotted seven acres of land on the beach for organising water and adventure sports.
