Ahead of Pongal, the bull-taming sport of Jallikattu is coming to Chennai this season as an Indian Premier League-styled league, according to a report in The Times of India.
The competition is scheduled to be held on January 7 in a plot opposite the Madras Crocodile Bank on East Coast Road.
Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Peravai and Chennai Jallikattu Amaipu, who are the organisers of the event, unveiled the logo for the event on Thursday.
The event will see the participation of around 500 youth from 17 districts across the state as well as an equal number of bulls.
The organisers announced that the spectacle will be broadcast by Zee Tamizh on Mattu Pongal Day.
"Majority of people in northern Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, have not witnessed jallikattu, the sport of the valiant (Veera Vilayattu). Though thousands of students gathered on the Marina beach to demand a law allowing the sport to be held last January, not many had seen it," Rajmohan Arumugam, who hosted the programme, told ToI.
There will be three rounds with the contestants divided into five groups.
Around 20 bulls would be released into the playing area in each round with one team getting eliminated at the end of each round.
There will be a substantial prize money on offer for the winners, details of which, would be revealed later.
Although a case challenging the law which permitted jallikattu to be held in the state is still being heard in the Supreme Court, organisers said that they have got the go-ahead from the government, the report says.
Expected to be a high-profile event, bulls belonging to MPs and MLAs are also expected to compete in the event.
While assuring medical facilities for the bulls and participants on the ground, organisers said arrangements are in place to give sufficient rest to the cattle brought from Salem, Madurai and other districts of the state, the report adds.