The Kreeda Jyoti was lit and handed over to Olympian Ashwini Ponnappa at the Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi Hills on Saturday.

Ms. Ponnappa, along with other athletes, ran for a distance before handing it over to veteran athletes. The athletes then installed the torch at the Chamundi Vihas stadium where the Dasara sports events were being held.

As many as 22 games have been organised for this year’s Dasara. Over 8,000 sportspersons will be taking part. Paralympic Deepa Malik and Ms. Ponnappa jointly inaugurated the sports event later at the stadium.

The half-marathon will be held on October 2 and October 9 and over 500 people have already registered for the event.

Earlier, Ms. Ponnappa and Ms. Malik were felicitated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Correspondent / Mysuru – October 02nd, 2016