Mangaluru (Karnataka), Jul 5: Renowned Yakshagana exponent Kumble Sridhar Rao died of a cardiac arrest on Friday.

Rao (76) followed the Thenkuthittu style of Yakshagana. He was a disciple of Kumble Kamalaksha Nayak and Sheni Gopalakrishna Bhat in dance and ‘Arthagarike’ respectively.

He started his life as a Yakshagana artist at the tender age of 13, served in many Yakshagana ensembles like Kundavu, Kudlu, Mulki, and Karnataka and had been associated with Dharmasthala Yakshagana Mela for more than four decades.

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Rao has received the President’s Medal for his extraordinary career in Yakshagana.

He was one of the first exponents to take Yakshagana ballets to Middle Eastern and West Asian countries.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.