48 hurt as 975 bulls unleashed at jallikattu in Madurai village

MADURAI: Forty-eight bull tamers were injured, eight of whom seriously, in the jallikattu conducted at Sakkudi, on the city outskirts on Sunday. The injured were taken to Government Rajaji Hospital for treatment and are under observation.
As many as 750 tamers and 975 bulls took part in the event that started at 9 am on Sunday in view of a village festival.
State Revenue and Disaster Management Minister R B Udhayakumar inaugurated the event in the presence of district collector K Veera Raghava Rao. Villagers offered their prayers at the temple taking all prize materials to the temple ahead of the event which was flagged off after the bull tamers took oath.
The collector Rao said that 793 bull tamers have registered for the sport and 784 were deemed fit before the sport began. Out of 995 bulls registered, 927 bulls took part. As the jallikattu kicked off, temple bulls of the village were let loose from Vadivasal, closely followed by the registered bulls. While most bulls ran out of Vadivasal and fled the scene, some put up good challenge.
After the event was completed, prizes were distributed to best bulls. Parmbupatti Selliamman temple bull, Sivaganesan’s bull from Coimbatore and P R Rajasekaran’s bull from Sakkudi were selected for first place. The second place went to a bull belonging to Prem from Madurai Anna Nagar while the third prize was taken by bull owned by Y Kodikulam.
Sambath, from Periakulam, received first prize for taming seven bulls, Ajaykumar, from Alangai, Suresh, of Meenakshipuram, and Ganesan from Melur received second prize.