Sports in Kolkata : Assessment
Kolkata can be considered as the most happening destination for sports lovers. Unlike several Indian cities cricket is the most popular and widely sport played by the people of Kolkata. Former Indian captain and world renowned batsman Sourav Ganguly also called as “Royal Bengal Tiger” is born and brought up in Kolkata. He is adored by the youth as their inspiration. Apart from this the introduction of IPL-20 played an important role in attracting masses towards its excitement, also the entrance of stars from Indian movies acquiring the franchises of the teams with huge investments was good enough to fascinate people towards this game. As on one side they had their inspiring captain Sourav Ganguly playing for his home team and on the other side money offered in this game increased the popularity of cricket among the Kolkatans. At present Kolkata team of IPL known Kolkata Knightriders is captained by former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly and is headed by Indian Film Star Shah Rukh Khan.
Apart from cricket the most liked and adored sports played by the Kolkatans is football which is played even before the introduction of cricket in the city. The passion about football can be seen when any match is played between the premium teams of West Bengal or when any international football championship is being played in world, especially during FIFA world cup.
There is a common quote used for the people of Kolkata is that they follow two religions one their own religion and one is related to the team they support viz. Mohan Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting Club and East Bengal club. The enthusiasm about football is felt when any of these teams are playing in the national trophy. However it is unfortunate to learn that the country with the population of more than 110 crore cannot constitute a team which can raise the flag of country in the sports of Football.
Its not that the interest of people is limited to only these two sports i.e. cricket and football. Kolkata is also the birth place of various renowned players who have marked their presence in the world’s sports map and have risen the Indian flag to new heights. To name few lets begin with Sourav Ganguly and Pankaj Roy captaining Indian Cricket Team, Mihir Sen who was the first person to cross the English Channel in 1948, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar won Gold medal in four racing events of Asian Games in 1998, Leander Paes who not only won Wimbledon Junior medal in 1990, but established new flags of success by wining Wimbledon and French Open Men’s Double with his partners Mahesh Bhupati in 1999 and then again captured the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Championship in 2003 with his partner, Martina Navratilova, another legend of Women’s tennis, Dibyendu Barua and Surya Shekhar Ganguly are FIDE Chess Grandmasters at present, Baichung Bhutia the renowned Footballer. All these players have made not only the Kolkata to be proud on them but have become as legends in the field of their respective sports and still endeavoring to raise the name of India to new heights.
Due to its rich sports history Kolkata has proudly hosted some prestigious International Cricket matches. Kolkata is houses the second largest cricket stadium in world, the Eden Gardens with the sitting capacity of one lakh spectators. The Salt Lake Stadium also called as Yuva Bharati Krirangan is a multi purpose stadium used for the international matches of cricket and football. This stadium also stands in the same category of Eden Gardens stadium and is the second largest football stadium in world. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the first golf club in the world apart from Britain having three 18 hole golf courses. Calcutta South Club of Kolkata is the host of various national and international tennis tournaments. Apart from this the Calcutta Rowing Club is involved in regularly hosting the rowing races and training programmes.
Thus, it can be said that Kolkata is heaven for sports lovers.