The participants from Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh vied for the trophy
Kakinada: As many as 22 teams have participated in Sir Arthur Cotton Dragon Boat race competitions, held near Lolla Locks main canal in Atreyapuram mandal of Kothapeta assembly constituency in the Ambedkar Konaseema district.
The government is organising the competitions on the eve of Sankranthi Sambaralu. The participants from Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh vied for the trophy. They competed in the races with a range of 1000 metres from Uchili to Tadipudi.
The Bandaru, Konaseema, Palnadu, Kurnool, Yerra Kalva and Kerala Alleppy teams reached the semi-finals on Monday.
On the eve of Sankranti, the organisers led by the Kothapeta MLA Bandaru Satyananda Rao and district collector Mahesh Kuma were conducting the competitions in 18 events in which 200 participants took part.
In the swimming competitions, the men and women aged above 60 and police department personnel participated. Some 54 swimmers stood as winners in the competition.
The Amalapuram MLA Ananda Rao, Telugu Desam leader Metla Ramana Babu and others were present.
Kothapeta MLA Bandaru Satyananda Rao said that with the Sankranti Sambaralu and boat race contests have attracted the national and international attention and the area would become an International tourism hub. The region has rich potential to promote tourism with its ancient temples, greenery with coconut trees, paddy fields and cocoa, canals and the Godavari river.
On the final day on Tuesday, home minister V Anitha, water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu, MSME minister K Srinivas, tourism minister Kandula Durgesh, Union minister Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma and others would watch the boat races. On Monday night, labour minister Vasamsetty Subhash participated in Sehri Band event and food festival.
