The Forest Department organised a volleyball tournament for tribal youths at Government Forest Higher Secondary School at Jamunamarathur village in Tiruvannamalai district as part of World Wildlife Week 2026, which is celebrated between October 2 and 8.

Forest officials said that the tournament was aimed at encouraging sports among youth in tribal areas. It will also help create awareness about environmental protection among the tribal populace.

Divided into 32 teams, 384 tribal youth participated in the knockout matches that were held on the school campus. Forest officials said that a team from Palamarathur tribal village won the first prize that carried a cash of ₹15,000, followed by Thekumarathur village team with a prize money of ₹10,000. Erimarathur village team won the third prize with a cash award of ₹5,000.

Forest officials said that Collector Vandhana Garg distributed the prizes and certificates to the winning teams at the Collectorate in the presence of K. Sudhagar, District Forest Officer, G. Vinothraj, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), and S. Gunasekaran, Forest Range Officer (FRO), Jamunamarathur range (Jawadhu Hills).