Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Sports in West Bengal

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Sports in West Bengal

Sports in West Bengal has its own importance. Sports like Cricket and Soccer are the most popular sports in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Contents

Football

Unlike in other Indian states where cricket is considered as the most popular game, football is the most popular game in West Bengal. It can be considered as the football hub of India and houses many national clubs like Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Mohammedan Sporting Club.

Cricket

As mostly in India, cricket is immensely popular among the masses of west Bengal. It houses the Eden Gardens stadium which is the largest cricket stadium in India. Eden gardens can house more than 100,000 people and is one of the only two 100,000-seat cricket amphitheaters in the world. Eden gardens is also the home for the East Zone and Bengal Cricket team. It also houses the Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders bought by Shah Rukh Khan which uses Eden gardens as its home turf. Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is the second-oldest cricket club in the world.

Other games

Indian sports like Kho Kho and Kabaddi are also popular among the masses here.

Polo

The oldest polo club of the world, Calcutta Polo Club is also present here.

Golf

Outside Great Britain the Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the oldest of its kind

Stadiums

  • Eden Gardens - Used mainly for Cricket.
  • Salt Lake Stadium - multi-use stadium is the world's second highest-capacity football stadium.
  • Durgapur, Siliguri and Kharagpur also hold various National and international sports events.
  • Notable persons

  • Sourav Ganguly - former Indian national cricket captain
  • Pankaj Roy - former Indian cricketer
  • Leander Paes - Olympic tennis bronze medallist
  • Dibyendu Barua - chess grand master
  • Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee and Sailen Manna - Footballers
  • Mihir Sen - swimmer
  • Jyotirmoyee Sikdar - Athlete and winner of gold medals at the Asian Games.
  • References

    Sports in West Bengal Wikipedia