Sports in Chennai
For a layman a sport can be described as a kind of physical activity that is performed in discipline by set of certain rules, this activity when played between two persons or group of person is known as Sports match.
Chennai being the metropolitan city of India has the proud of giving some players of International repute to the country. Players like S. Venkatraghavan, Kriss Shrikant, Vishwanathan Anand, Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan ,Mahesh Bhupathi, Sharath Kamal and Subramanian Raman are born and brought up in Chennai. The current Indian Tennis Star Leander Paes had his schooling and training from Chennai
No doubt cricket has indirectly replaced Hockey as the national game of India and has become the soul of Indians. But apart from cricket Chennai also encourages the other sports equally and has space for every sport such as Tennis, hockey, football and racing are other popular and adventerous sports.
Chennai is the proud host of the first Commonwealth Junior Fencing Championships held in 2006. Chennai also organizes the ATP Tennis tournament and the Chennai Open tournament at regular intervals.
To highlight the major sport in Chennai let’s begin with cricket. Unlike other Indian cities, cricket is the most liked and played sport in Chennai. The M.A. Chidambaram cricket stadium is the prime stadium to host the cricket matches of national and International level. The Indian Premier League has added the more fascination amongst the people towards this sport. Chennai too has its participation in the league by sending its team as Chennai Super Kings in the IPL matches. Besides this former pace International bowler Dennis Lilli has established his cricket academy in Chennai to encourage the up-coming cricket talent in the country.
After cricket the second most important sport that fascinated the people of Chennai is Tennis. Chennai is proud to produce some International Tennis players who have raised the name of India to great heights. Players like Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan ,Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes are the gift from Chennai to the Nation. To encourage the sport of Tennis in Chennai Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy is established in Chennai.
The national game Hockey is given an equal importance in Chennai as it renders to cricket. Mayor Radharkrishnan with the sitting capacity of 4000 spectators is the destination for organizing the hockey matches of national and International level. Chennai has proudly hosted the Champions Trophy Tournaments twice in 1996 and 2005 respectively in which six best hockey teams from the world participate.
Chennai is the suitable venue for organizing the sport of car and motor cycle racing. The destinations for car and motor cycle racing are located at Sriperumbudur and Sholavaram tracks respectively. Besides, car and motor racing, Guindy racing course established in 1777 is used for horse racing and the Madras Boat Club was established in 1867 to encourage the boat competitions.
Chess which is considered as one of the ancient game of India has produced the World Champion Vishwanath Ananad, who hails from Chennai.
Chennai has also given star players to the sport of Table Tennis. Sharath Kamal and Subramanian Raman are born and brought up in Chennai. Both these players are the proud owners of Arjuna Award and gold medalists in Common Wealth Games.
Thus it can be said that because of best available sources Chennai is able to produce such great players who have raised the name of India at International level and therefore Chennai is considered as the Metro city of India.