School fest: Kozhikode team on cloud nine

An elated Kozhikode team on Sunday lifted the 117. 5 sovereign Gold Cup for the seventh time scripting history at Malappuram, the land blessed by the birth of several legendary artistes and literary giants. The district emerged winners by pushing rivals Thrissur and Malappuram way behind their path to success.

Kozhikode DDE P Gouri said that the strong-willed students and their teachers were the secret behind the extraordinary achievement. “Kozhikode has a tradition of pure classical art. The students here grew up by listening to music and watching great dancers. This is the sole mantra of our success and hopefully it will continue in Palakkad next year,” she said.

Nadaswaram was the lone event which had zero participation by the district. The newly-introduced items such as vanchippattu and folk song and the items in the Urdu Festival were all topped by the participants from the district. “Vanchippattu is actually an art form from south Kerala. But the determined teachers and students here learned it in limited time and also excelled in it. We have thus proved that nothing is impossible if you are strong-willed,” said team manager Premarajan R.

Silver Hills School, with 148 participants, won the maximum points for the district. School team manager Sasilal P K was full of praise for all the participating students. “The coordination among the team members was excellent. We are confident of coming up with the same performance next year,” said an excited team manager.  A grand reception was accorded to the winning team by the Kozhikode District Collector at the collectorate on Sunday night.