Kambala, the ‘world’s fastest jockey’ who claims to have set a new world record for jockeys, has refused to participate in athletics trials.
Kambala is an exciting sport that combines the thrill of horse racing with the excitement of farming. Featuring tough cows and buffalos from the coastal Karnataka (Udupi and Dakshina Kannada) districts, Kambala is a festival that celebrates life on the farm.
The bulls are bred specially for this race and each one has been trained to go in circles or keep their legs moving for short spells as they compete against each other.
Kambala originates from the remote coastal areas of Karnataka State and is conducted as a ritual to ward off evil spirits and disasters. To begin with, a herd of buffaloes is driven into a pen made of banana trees.
During the race, the racers try to bring the buffaloes under control by holding their reins tight and whipping them.
In its traditional form, Kambala was non-competitive and buffalo pairs raced one after another in paddy fields.
Animal activists criticize the sport and argue that the Kambala involves acts of cruelty on animals which are not physiologically suited for racing and they run in the race due to fear of being beaten.
Jallikattu is performed every year during the harvest festival Pongal and it is an event organized in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The bull-tamers use a leather strap to control the bull, as well as their physical strength, to control it.
The event was depicted in the Indian Tamil film Kadal, directed by Pandiraj. Jallikattu is also increasingly becoming popular as a tourist attraction.
The sport requires fighters to pounce on a running bull, try to hold on to its hump and move along with the animal without falling or getting hurt.