MADIKERI:The annual Kodava Hockey Festival, which is usually held in the months of April and May every year, has been called off for the year 2019 as the recent floods ravaged the district. The month-long tournament was supposed to be hosted by Mukkatira family and was scheduled to be held at Balugodu Kodava Samaj grounds.
The Kodava Hockey Academy, along with Mukkatira family, have decided to cancel the 2019 event. Mukkatira Shivu Madappa, one of the organisers of hockey festival, said, “The tournament will not be held in 2019.”
Lakhs of rupees are spent for the tournament every year. When asked if the family has any plans to make any contribution towards flood relief, Madappa said, “We will hold a meeting and decide about it.”However, the hockey festival in 2020 will be hosted by the Mukkatira family followed by Aadenganda family in 2021.Kodagu has produced some of the finest hockey players.
Hockey also binds the Kodava families together as the community people working elsewhere return to the district to participate and witness the grand event.Every year, one of the Kodava families organises the event and the tournament is named after the family hosting the event. It is a matter of pride for the family to conduct it on a large scale and grander manner than previous years.
In 1997, retired bank officer Pandanda Kuttappa and his brother Kashi Ponnappa introduced hockey to the Kodava community by organising the first annual Kodava Hockey Festival. In 2018, the Kulletira family hosted the tournament in Napoklu.