Kerala Blasters and Allu Arjun to cheer up Nehru Trophy boat race
This year’s Nehru Trophy boat race will be on 10th November 2018. Kerala Governor P Sadasivam will be the chief guest in the event. In order to cheer up the participants and the spectators Kerala’s favourite ISL football team Kerala Blasters will be participating in the boat race. They will wade through the racing track to greet the spectators.
To add to the joy of the boat race lovers, south Indian film actor Allu Arjun will also be part of the event. Telugu actor Allu Arjun has lots of fans in Kerala also. Organizers expect that the young super star’s presence in the gallery would excite the both the participants and the spectators. It was informed in the meeting of the executive committee held at Thiruvananthapuram.
The organizing committee has decided to increase the price money for the winning team in the Nehru Trophy boat race. The decision has taken to alleviate the loss incurred by the participating boat clubs due to the postponement of the race. Earlier it was decided to conduct the race during August, but was postponed following the rain and floods. Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac, while speaking on the meeting, said the boat race would be a boost to the tourism sector and help the revival of Alappuzha.
Nehru trophy boat race – file photo
For the first time in history, there will be 81 boats participating in the event. 20 snake boats (chundan vallam) have registered for the competition, while other 5 boats will participate in the show match. With the other 56 boats, the fleet of boats will make ripples on the back waters of Punnamada to showcase a visual treat and once in a life time experience to the spectators.
The executive committee chaired by Thomas Isaac have reviewed the progress of the preliminary works for the event. 40 per cent of the tent works are said to be completed. It is expected that the works will be completed by 4th November.
Modern technology will be made use of to make the race flawless. Advanced Linux camera, capable of taking 1000 clicks per second, will be used to mark the finishing. Digital timing will be another speciality of this year’s boat race.
Alappuzha District Collect S Suhas, Sub Collector Krishna Teja, Irrigation Executive Engineer Haran Babu, Ex- MLAs C K Sadasivan, K K Shaju etc., were present in the review meeting.