Kerala rains leave 20 dead, Nehru boat race postponed
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 9: The toll in rain-related deaths in Kerala touched 20 on Thursday as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan postponed Saturday's annual Nehru boat race in Alappuzha in view of heavy showers forecast.
Speaking to the media here, Vijayan said rains have caused extensive damage to life and properties across the state. "We have sought six additional teams of National Disaster Response Force," he added.
"As we speak, the trial run of opening one shutter of the Idukki dam might have taken place," he said.
As a precaution, the Cochin International Airport Limited has informed that till 2.30 p.m. all incoming flights will be diverted to other destinations, while there will be no problem for outgoing flights.
Vijayan said the deaths includes 11 from Idukki, six from Malappuram, two in Kozhikode and one from Wayanad.
"Since more rains are forecast, as a matter of abundant caution, it has been decided to postpone the upcoming Nehru boat race on the Punnamada lake. The new dates will be announced by the organisers," said Vijayan.
He pointed out that the central team that has arrived to assess the damages caused in the earlier rains have agreed to provide all help.
"Since this episode has led to widespread loss and destruction, the requirement of money is there and we call upon all who are willing to donate. They can do it to the Chief Minister's Fund," Vijayan said.
Earlier State Power Minister M.M. Mani, who hails from Idukki, said: "Things are pretty bad and I have visited the affected areas on Thursday morning.
"The shutters of the Idamalyar dam was opened. We will open one shutter of the Idukki dam also..."
At 12.30 p.m., after a gap of 26 years, one shutter of the Idukki dam was opened as part of a trial run and to assess the flow of water. The shutters will be closed after four hours.
Earlier Vijayan held an emergency meeting here to assess the situation and appointed senior official P.H. Kurian to lead the rescue and relief operations.
A special monitoring cell has been opened in the state secretariat and all the 14 district collectors have been directed to open one each as well.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
