Neck-and-neck race

THRISSUR: Kozhikode is leading with 363 points on the 3rd day of the fest on Wednesday. Thrissur, the host city to the state school youth fest, came forward with 360 points for the golden cup, with giving tight competition to Kannur and Kozhikode. Though appeals and complaints about late results filled the 16 venues, the students from 14 districts gave their best on stage, dazzling the audience and often perplexing the judges. The items performed on stage on Wednesday were mainly performing arts, such as Kerala natanam, bharatanatyam, Margamkali, drama, classical music, mono act, Kuchupudi, kathakali music,  mappilapattu, percussions, chakyar koothu and folk dance.
Most of the prizes for the performance items were swept by Thrissur while, Kozhikode dominated the Arabic poem recitation, essay and elocution. Kannur gave a feast for the eye with folk dance teams performing innovative, yet tradition-based numbers. In the high school category, boys scored over girls in passive items while the opposite gender surprised the stage with stunning performances in the higher secondary school category. The high school section has scored 148 points and the HSS - 153- while the same earned 40 and 53 points in the Arabic and Sanskrit general category respectively.