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Srinivas Gowda (28) runs the 100 meters faster than world record holder Usain Bolt (33).
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With the help of a buffalo team – the Indian sport is called Kambala.
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Gowda thanked his two teammates for the good performance.
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“I’m compared to Usain Bolt,” said Gowda. “He is a world champion, I only run in a muddy rice field.”
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Srinivas Gowda, 28, is a construction worker from southern India. After winning a record in a buffalo race, he is compared in his home country to eight-time Olympic and eleven-time world champion Usain Bolt (33), who also holds the world record over 100 meters: 9.58 seconds.
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Gowda broke this Bolt record from 2009. Well, with some buffalo help. “I am compared to Usain Bolt,” Gowda is quoted by the Indian media. “He is a world champion, I only run in a muddy rice field.”
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Gowda took part in the traditional Kambala competition in the southern state of Karnataka. Kambala, that’s a sport where amateur athletes sprint 142 m through paddy fields with a buffalo team:
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Three hundredths faster than world record
Indian media report that Gowda should have finished in 13.42 seconds. Converted to 100 meters, that’s 9.55 seconds. Three hundredths faster than Bolt’s world record over 100 meters.
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The Kambala academy was modest after comparing that Gowda and Bolt should be mentioned in the same breath. “We don’t want to compare ourselves to others,” Prof. K. Gunapala Kadamba, President of the Kambala Academy, told BBC Hindi.
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The technology factor should also be taken into account: at Bolt’s race they would have “more scientific methods and better electronic devices for measuring speed”.
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Thanks to teammates alias Büffel
Gowda was not only thrilled with his record win, he was also full of praise for his teammates who ran with him and thanked the two buffaloes for their good performance.
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He has been participating in Kambalas for seven years, which means “muddy rice field” in the local Tulu language.
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Banned by India’s highest judges in 2014 for cruelty to animals, Kambala has been allowed in Karnataka again since 2018 – provided that no whips are used. (KES)
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