Sports in Chennai
What are the exotic activities in Chennai?
Adventure Sports in Chennai encompass Trekking, Mountain Camping, Surfing, Laser Tag, Paintball, Cycling, Rock Climbing, ATV Rides, Paramotoring, Paragliding, Canyoning, Scuba Diving, and many more. Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu has a plethora of activities that tourists and locals can indulge in.
Are there water sports in Chennai?
Chennai is the capital of coastal state of Tamil Nadu. The city, being in the vicinity of the sea, is a paradise for water sport lovers in India, as well from abroad. It offers a wide variety in terms of adventure activities, right from parasailing to scuba diving and from fishing to boating.
Which sport is famous in Chennai?
Cricket is the most popular sport in Chennai. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is one of the oldest cricket stadiums in India and has been the venue for many notable milestones in the history of Indian cricket. Tennis, field hockey, football and formula racing and squash are the other popular sports.
Silambattam
Silambam is a weapon-based Indian martial art originating in South India in the Indian subcontinent which is being played as a traditional sport even in this modern days. This style is mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature [1] The World Silambam Association is the official international body of Silambam. It is the most important traditional sport of Tamil nadu which is involved with the lives of people since sangam age. It is a sport as well as self defencing and attacking techniques. It is the most oldest form of martial art originated from South India .
Are there water sports in Chennai?
Adventure Sports in Chennai encompass Trekking, Mountain Camping, Surfing, Laser Tag, Paintball, Cycling, Rock Climbing, ATV Rides, Paramotoring, Paragliding, Canyoning, Scuba Diving, and many more. Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu has a plethora of activities that tourists and locals can indulge in.
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is the state sport of Tamil Nadu. The word “kabadi” is derived from the Tamil word “kai-pudi”(கைபிடி) meaning “to hold hands” It is also known as sadu-gudu.
Seval Sandai
Seval Sandai or Seval Porr (cockfighting) is a popular rural sport in Tamil Nadu. Three or four-inch blades are attached to the cocks’ feet and the winner is decided after three or four rounds of no holds barred fighting. The sport involves major gambling in recent times. Cockfighting in Tamil Nadu is mentioned in ancient literature like Manu Needhi Sastiram, Kattu Seval Sastiram and other Sangam literature. It is referred to as the favorite pastime for the warriors of Tamil country and is acknowledged as one amongst the 64 great arts.
It involves basically fighting skills for your chicken. Now it is widely played in the places of North America and Asia.
Jallikattu
Jallikattu is a popular bull taming sport practiced particularly during Pongal festival. Jallikattu was a popular sport since the Sangam period and Tamil classical period. Jallikattu (or sallikkattu), also known as eru thazhuvuthal and manju virattu, is a traditional spectacle in which a bull, such as the Pulikulam or Kangayam breeds, is released into a crowd of people, and multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull’s back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape. Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.
Rekla
Rekla Racer in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu
Rekla is a sport which is a form of bullock cart racing.
Sathurangam
Chess is believed to have originated in India, c. 280 – 550 CE,where its early form in Tamil Nadu was known as Sathurangam literally four divisions [of the military] – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.
Modern day chess is a widely popular game in the state and Tamil Nadu State Chess Association is the apex body for the game of chess in Tamil Nadu. The state has produced many grandmasters including Viswanathan Anand, one of the greatest and most versatile players of the modern era having won the World Chess Championship five times from 2002 to 2013.
Malyutham
Malyutham is a traditional Indian art of full contact Grappling that originated in Tamil Nadu. It was widely practiced in Tamil Nadu since ancient times as a sport. Malyutham is one of the 64 Arts mentioned in Ancient Literature. Malyutham is one of the Traditional Sports practiced in Tamil Nadu. There is another Art named Malla – Yuddha coming from North India. Although the names are similar, Malla-Yuddha and Malyutham are two different and very distinct Arts. They are different in the nature of the techniques studied and on their external aspects as well.13. Other notable players include S. Vijayalakshmi, P. V. Nandhidhaa and Krishnan Sasikiran.
Gusthi
Gusthi is a Traditional Sports Activity, which is practiced in punjab since time immemorial. Gusthi is also known as Kai Kuthu Sandai. Gusthi is a form of Traditional Boxing, which is slightly deviated from Wrestling. Gusthi of Tamil Nadu is a derivative of Malyutham of Tamil Nadu. Gusthi also includes Grapplings as well. There is another art coming from North India named Kushti. Although the names are almost same, Gusthi and Kushti are two different and two distinct arts. Gusthi is an art of Boxing, while Kusthi is an art of Wrestling. They are different in the nature of the techniques studied and on their external aspects as well.
Killithattu
A game that requires quick reflexes, tactical thinking and tremendous team effort. This sport is a part of our Tamil heritage and preserves our Tamil identity. The ‘kili’ or last player must stand on the centre of the first lane when the game starts. The ‘kili’ player can move anywhere around the court or through the middle of the court but not horizontally. The team that is guarding the base and capturing it is chosen by a coin toss. The game is started by a whistle sound by the overseeing referee. When the game starts, each of the other members can only move sideways/horizontally. This accounts for the rest of the 5 members of the team for a total of 6 including ‘kili’.
Kho-kho
Kho kho is a tag sport played by teams of twelve players who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team, only 9 players of the team enter the field.[11] It is one of the two most popular traditional tag games played in schools, the other being kabbadi
Uriyadi
Uriyadi involves smashing a small earthen pot with a long stick usually with a cloth wrapped around the eyes to prevent the participants from seeing the pot.[13] Other minor sports include Ilavatta kal where lift huge spherical rocks,[14] Gilli-danda played with two pieces of sticks, Nondi played by folding one leg and hopping squares. Some of the indoor games include Pallanguzhi involving beads, Bambaram involving spinning of top, Dhayakattai which is a modified dice game, Aadu puli attam, Nungu vandi and Seechangal
Modern sports
The first thing which comes to your mind when you listen to someone speaking about Chennai is the beach of Marina, supposed to be having the second largest coastline in the world. Just adjacent to it is the very famous M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk that has hosted many cricket matches which have made you spell-bound. The unforgettable epic double hundred by Professor Deano in the tied Madras test, the highest individual score ever made in ODIs then by Saeed Anwar in the Independence Cup, the merciless mauling of Shane Warne by the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar and so many such things are permanently placed in our memories. The very fact that the venue is so closer to Chennai Beach makes it hard to be overlooked.
Other than for a Rajinikanth’s movie, if thousands of people had ever gathered around together in Chennai for one sole purpose, it had always been for buying the tickets to watch Cricket matches. Well, that was the case till 1997 when a certain Tennis tournament called McDowell Open got shifted here from New Delhi, having been renamed as Gold Flake Open. Ever since then, it has to be said that the tournament has gone leaps and bounds and has become one of ATP’s permanent fixtures. This tennis stadium at Nungambakkam, Chennai has been attracting crowd to its fullest capacity all the seven days of the event every year.
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium during an ODI match between India and Pakistan.
Cricket is the most popular sport.[16] It is played by many people in open spaces throughout the state.[17] Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is the governing body of cricket activities in the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Tamil Nadu cricket team, which has won the Ranji Trophy twice and have finished Runners-up 9 times. Chennai Super Kings, a franchise based out of Chennai is the most successful team in the Indian Premier League. Notable international cricketers from Tamil Nadu include Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Kris Srikkanth, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Robin Singh, Murali Vijay, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Murali Karthik, Subramaniam Badrinath and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Cricket administrators from the state include current International Cricket Council president N. Srinivasan, former BCCI presidents A. C. Muthiah and his father M. A. Chidambaram.
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is one of the oldest cricketing venues and was the host of India’s first test cricket victory. MRF Pace Foundation, a coaching clinic for training fast bowlers from all over the world is based in Chennai. It was created by MRF Limited with the help of former Australian pace spearhead Dennis Lillee.
Hockey is one of the popular sports played in schools and colleges. Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium is a field hockey stadium at Chennai named after M. Radhakrishna Pillai and was the venue to the 1996 Men’s Champions Trophy and tournament tournaments. It is also the venue for all division matches of the Chennai Hockey Association and the home ground of the World Series Hockey team Chennai Cheetahs.[18] Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu is planning to set up a hockey academy[19] Notable international players include Vasudevan Baskaran, Krishnamurthy Perumal, M. J. Gopalan, Dhanraj Pillay, Adam Sinclair and Mohammed Riaz.
The Chennai Open is part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) circuit. This hard court tennis championship has been held every year since 1996. At present, it is the only tour-level tennis event held in India.
The success of Tennis in Chennai has been quite phenomenal, which is why the organizers have not been able to move the tournament anywhere else in India although many a times, they had been having such ideas before. Right now, it looks like Tennis is here to stay, may be for very long. In my opinion, it is fully justified that Chennai gets its share of Tennis first more than any other place in India. I say this not only because I am from Chennai, but also because of the fact that the city had its own tennis connection.
Chennai’s Tennis Connection
We have not been able to see, of late, any Indian singles player making a huge impact in ATP tournaments. Only three players from the Indian subcontinent had really made it big at the international level in the last fifty years and incidentally, all of them belong to Chennai. First of them was the legendary Ramanathan Krishnan, who made inroads into world ranking, getting himself placed as high as No.3 at one point of time. He had been a two times semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961.
After senior Krishnan’s departure, came a member from a certain Amritraj’s family, whose name is Vijay. He held the tricolor of India for more than a decade and had been victorious against some of the game’s greatest players including Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg. Due to some consistent performances, he was ranked inside top 10 and had also remained a member of that elite category for quite some time. He reached the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and US open.
During Vijay’s playing days entered Ramesh who was also referred to as “Junior Krishnan” as he was the son of former Indian great Ramanathan Krishnan. Ramesh was a part of the Indian Davis cup side which reached the finals in 1989. Though said to have possessed one of the very weakest serves in the game, he had always been a very competitive player all throughout his tenure. His victory over Mats Wilander in Australian open in 1989 was easily one of the best wins he had in his career.
Chennai Open was an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament previously held annually in January at SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai. It was the only ATP tournament held in the country until 2017, after which the tournament moved to Pune. Notable players are Ramesh Krishnan, Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, and Nirupama Vaidyanathan.
Coimbatore is often referred to as the “Motor sports Capital of India” and the “Backyard of Indian Motorsports”.[20] S.Karivardhan, spearheaded motor racing, making Coimbatore the country’s motor racing hub when he designed and built entry level race cars. Before Buddh International Circuit was constructed, the country’s only two permanent race ways were the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore and Madras Motor Racing Track, Chennai.[21] MRF built is first Formula 3 car in 1997.[22] MRF in collaboration with Maruti established the Formula Maruti racing, a single-seater, open wheel class motorsport racing event for race cars made in India.[23] MRF Challenge is a Formula 2000 open-wheel motorsport formula based series organized by Madras Motor Sports Club in association with MRF. Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, the only drivers from to represent India in Formula 1 hail from the state. Other prominent racers include Parthiva Sureshwaren, Ashwin Sundar, N. Leelakrishnan, Raj Bharath and Ajith Kumar represented India.[24]
Other popular games include athletics, soccer, basketball, volleyball and badminton. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai and Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore are popular multipurpose football and athletics stadiums in the state. Notable volleyball players include A. Palaniswamy, G. E. Sridharan and Tamil Nadu men’s team won the Gold in National level competition held in 2011.[25] Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal are the notable squash players who won gold at the Commonwealth games. Kutraleeswaran is a notable swimmer, who was the first Indian to cross six channels in a single calendar year.[26] Archery, boxing, carrom, shooting, weightlifting, martial arts, snooker, golf, bowling, and squash also feature among sports played. Srither won gold at Asian Archery Championship held at Indonesia in November 2009.[27] A. Maria Irudayam and Ilavzhagi won world carrom championships.[28] Santhi Soundarajan is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at Asian Games. Sathish Sivalingam is a commonwealth gold medalist in weightlifting. Mariyappan Thangavelu has won the gold medal in the finals of 2016 Summer Paralympic games held in Rio de Janeiro.
Chennai super kings
whistle podu
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. They play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd and India Cementsis the major stakeholder.