On Madras Day, looking back at Chennai's sporting legacy

For Namma Madrasi Machaa's "Chennai is a name, but Madras is an emotion". Today the city celebrates Madras Day as Chennai turns 381 years old. A city that celebrates unity in its diverse culture and embraces people from across India has come a long way leaving its impression in Indian history. Ranging from its vivid cinematic influence of the Kollywood to its legendary political affiliations, the city has always been in the news for its bold rhetorics and unique cultural exhibits. Initially called Chennapattinam and Madraspatanam, soon became Madras and then Chennai. It was founded on August 22, 1639. The idea to mark Madras Day celebrations was started by Chennai Heritage Foundation in 2004. What started off as a citizen initiative has today grown into a week-long affair.

While the 'non-Madrasis' acquaint themselves with Chennai through its rich food, movie and political affiliations, many are not aware of the precedence Chennai has set over the years through its rich legacy of sports. While the fanatics go bonkers with their pride for Chennai Super Kings assuming a legendary stature in Indian Premier League, if looked carefully, the supremacy of Chennai goes way beyond cricket.

The grandmaster factory

Although chess doesn't hold its ground in India as a celebrated spectator sport, it runs in the emotions of people in Chennai. Ever since 1961, when Manuel Aaron returned to the city winning the country’s first IM title, and Vishwanathan Anand took it a level higher in 1988 when he was crowned the first Grandmaster from India, Chennai has been regularly churning out chess champs. Chennai even has its own magazine devoted to chess, Chess Mate, run by Arvind Aaron, a chess journalist, and son of Manuel Aaron.

Though India has produced a number of chess masters before Anand, he has immensely contributed to lift the profile of the game in the country through his efforts to promote chess and improve coaching camps. As of today, Chennai has produced over 20 grandmasters.

A racquet sports powerhouse

Besides chess, the squash infrastructure has upped its ante in Chennai with the city hosting multiple international tournaments in recent years. Big names of the sport like Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal who have been consistently topped the country charts and in have trained themselves in the squash courts of the city. He reached a career-high world ranking of 56 in September 2015 has represented Tamil Nadu in squash improving his game in Chennai. Squash, considered an elite sport, got a leg-up in the state due to the Chennai-based Indian Squash Academy (ISA), which was set up by World Squash Federation president N Ramanchandran 17 years ago.

One of the suprising addition to Chennai's sporting legacy was table tennis. The sport which saw growth in the states of West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat suddenly saw a burst of talent coming from Chennai. From local clubs, to community centres and offices, table tennis picked up its pace and academies started growing across the city. There were former national champions V Chandrasekhar, S Raman and B Bhuvaneswari from, but none could take their domestic success into the global arena consistently. It was Chennai lad Sharath Kamal who guided the Indian men’s team to their first-ever bronze in the 60-year history of the sport in the Asian Games last year and clinched another bronze in mixed doubles with Manika Batra. Three of the five men paddlers — Sharath, G Sathiyan and Anthony Amalraj — in the Asian Games squad were from Tamil Nadu, while three players in the women’s squash team are also from the state. Sharath also spearheaded his franchise Chennai Lions to win this year's edition of the Ultimate Table Tennis.

Chennai always had its share of inspiration, when it comes to tennis. India's biggest achievement in singles till date has been Ramanathan Krishnan reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals. His son Ramesh Krishnan became the top-ranked player in the junior circuit and won the junior Wimbledon like his father and then went on to win the junior French Open as well. In his pro career, Ramesh had defeated the then world No. 1 Mats Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open. After the Krishnans came the Amritrajs lead by Vijay Amritraj who made the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and US Open twice each. He along with his brother Anand also took India to two Davis Cup finals.

Leander Paes was not from the city, but he began his journey at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) foundation. The academy also produced a talent like Somdev Devvarman. Today their legacy has been carried forward by the likes of Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who has the highest rank (89) among Indians under ATP, while Ramakumar Ramanathan ranks 177.

Proving true to its legacy

Football is another widely played sports across the city. It is a game, which the residents take pretty sportively and have been ingrained in the culture for over centuries. The city boasts about its abundant talent which is reflected among the youngsters from the slums of the city. On 9th March 2019, Chennai City FC beat former champions Minerva Punjab 3–1 to be crowned the 2018–19 I-League champions. This marked the finish of a very successful season for the club, defying all expectations to win the league. This was Chennai City FC's first ever I-League title, and they will now represent India in the AFC Champions League.

Chennai-born Karun Chandhok is one of only two people from India to have ever made it to Formula One. He competed for the Hispania Racing Team in 2010, and prior to that, he was a successful racer in the GP2 series. Post-retirement, Chandhok went on to become a well-known F1 commentator for Sky Sports and has also worked for BBC Radio 5.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the legal spin machine of the Indian cricket team

Like rest of India, people in Chennai are also passionate about cricket. It is one of the most popular games here. Many one days, test matches, and IPL matches are played in Chennai. The city has some of the most premier cricket venues in India. Anyone who follows the IPL knows how the craze reflects at the Chepauk when their home team CSK take the pitch with their beloved "Thala" M. S. Dhoni leading from the front. From Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin to today's young gun Vijay Shankar, these players have constantly kept the Chennai brigade ticking when it comes to showing their flare in the Indian cricket team.

Time and again, sportspersons from Chennai have made it big in national and international sports domain and they continue to show their prowess setting the course for India's future in sports.