For some reason, Chennai never seems to get its recognition of being a great sporting centre. The average perception of the Chennai-ite is that of someone bookish, with more interests in intellectual pursuits than sport. Nothing could be further than that from the truth.
Any account of sport in India has to begin with cricket and so let us follow suit. It may have started off here as a game that sahibs played but Indians happily caught on soon. Lagaan is a movie that celebrates an Indian amateur team’s victory over a British team but that pretty much happened here. In the early 1900s, it was Buchi Babu Naidu, an aristocratic Madras resident who decided to kit Indians up for the game. All at his expense. And he succeeded eventually in getting the British to play with the Indians. It was tragic that he died before the match could be held.
Barriers broken
The barriers were however broken and the annual Presidency match became a fixture long before the Tests arrived. The game was played during the Pongal break and that began a long tradition as well, now observed more in the breach. For that matter, I don’t think the Buchi Babu Trophy is played for any longer. But cricket endures, with CSK being an emotion, Dhoni being perhaps on par with Rajini. But far earlier we had Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Cheeka to many, who still remains one of the endearing ‘characters’ of cricket.
Did you know that one of the most prestigious hockey tournaments of India happens in Chennai? And it has a history going back to 1901! From the 1960s the Murugappa Group has been organising its own tournament and in more recent times the two have come together, making it the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup tournament. Teams from all over India come here. It is in a way a tribute to the Olympians the city has produced – Ranganathan Francis and Munir Sait.
Where does the only Indian semi-finalist at the Wimbledon live? Chennai. And that is Ramanathan Krishnan who between himself, his father T.K. Ramanathan who was a coach par excellence, and son Ramesh who was a quarter finalist at Wimbledon can claim to represent a unique family in tennis. And we have the Amritraj Brothers, legends in their own way.
Can we forget Vijay bringing a Volvo back in 1973 for his win at Bretton Woods? Chennai has in its time hosted Davis Cup matches and for years played venue for the ATP. Of late, it is squash that is gaining ground and the city is a capital for the sport as well.
Chess Olympiad
Think Chess and it is Chennai that comes to mind once again. We hosted the Chess Olympiad last year but that was because of a long line of successes – Manuel Aaron, V. Anand, Gukesh and the list is long. Chennai is up top in carrom as well – A Maria Irudayam, the two-time world carrom champion is from our city as well.
Fitness by itself seems to be catching on, with more adherents post the pandemic. If the Marina was once the venue for sedate walkers, we now have brisk joggers and runners. Marathon aspirants are all over the city. And come the weekend we have cyclists going off to far away and sylvan locations. Even the Chief Minister joined in on a surprise ride and it made it to the news.
Chennai is also full of statisticians on sport. Uncles who will reel off cricket statistics, elders who will remember great tournaments of the past and others who will offer expert analysis. Trust us to turn even sport into a brain exercise of some kind.
