Curtains come down on grand Mysuru Dasara festival
Mysuru (PTI): Curtains came down on the 10-day Dasara festival with the grand finale in the form of 'Jamboo Savari' in this royal city on Tuesday.
An impressive procession of caparisoned elephants with the deity of Mysuru city Chamundeshwari enthroned on a 750 kg golden 'houdah' of the pilot 'jambo' Abhimanyu was held from the front of the imposing Mysuru palace.
The procession was led by the cavalry of the Karnataka police.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, District in-charge Minister H C Mahadevappa, the titular king of Mysuru Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and the members of the royal family paid obeisance to Goddess Chamundeshwari.
Earlier in the day, the chief minister took part in the Nandi Dhwaja Pooja.
In celebrating the 'Naada Habba' or the state festival, the city wore a grand look as it was decorated with colourful lighting. Various cultural events took place as well.
A grand tableaux of 31 districts of the state and various important government departments were displayed in the procession from in front of the palace, depicting their unique features.
Ballari district showcased the cultural aspects of the Hakki-Pikki tribes while Belagavi district displayed a model of the historic Mahalingeshwara temple.
Bengaluru Urban district showcased the achievement of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3, while Kolar presented the Gaarudi dance, Bidar focused on the distinct wildlife and Chamarajanagar exhibited a model of the famous Male Mahadeshwara temple. Chikkamagaluru created a display of the diverse flora and fauna as well as the aromatic coffee produced in the district.
Kushti is also among the key attractions along with the various cultural events during these 10 days.
The festival culminated as the procession reached Bannimantap from the palace.
Thousands of people had thronged to watch the grand finale of the Dasara celebrations. People from across the globe visit this royal city to witness the magnificent sights, famous worldwide for their regal splendour.
Vijayadashami or Dasara is celebrated as the triumph of good over evil as Goddess Chamundeshwari killed Mahishasura. She later made the hill nearby her abode, which came to be known as Chamundi Hills after the Goddess herself.
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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.
