MADURAI: The best tamer who embraced 22 bulls and the owner of the best bull that stubbornly refused to be subdued won a car and a tractor, respectively, at the Pongal 2026 Jallikattu held at Avaniyapuram here on Thursday.

The number of those injured at the event rose to 57 from 32 persons earlier in the day. Totally, 27 tamers, 21 bull owners and 9 spectators were injured during the traditional bull-taming sport here that marked the first among the three major events for this Pongal harvest festival season. Among the injured, eight were admitted to a hospital with simple injuries.

Balamurugan of Valayakulam in Madurai district was presented the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's prize of a car. GR Karthik of Avaniyapuram, who embraced 17 bulls and Ranjith also of Avaniyapuram who could hold on to the hump of 16 bulls during the daylong event, were presented a bike and a gold coin respectively.

State Commercial Taxes and Registration Minister P Moorthi who earlier inaugurated the sport in the presence of Madurai district collector Pravin Kumar and other senior officials, presented the prizes.

Virumandi brothers were presented the Deputy Chief Minister's prize of a tractor as their bull Manthai Muthukaruppan ferociously evaded the daring tamers.