Cricket is by far the most popular sport inKarnataka withInternational cricket matches attracting a sizeable number of spectators who are willing to pay more than the standard ticket price to get a chance to watch the match.[1] The sports related infrastructure is mainly concentrated inBangalore which also played host to the 4th National Games ofIndia in the year 1997.[2] Bangalore is also the location of theSports Authority of India (SAI) which is the premier sports institute in the country.[3] Karnataka is sometimes referred to as the cradle of Indian swimming because of high standards in swimming compared to other states.[4]
Amidst of cricket, which is the most popular sport of Karnataka,football finds its way in the state and attracts good amount of spectators duringIndian Super League games of the club,Bengaluru FC. The game is also popular in the districts ofBallari,Mangaluru,Kodagu andBelgavi...
Karnataka football team is a state team ofKarnataka, which participates inSantosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals 9 times, and have won the trophy 5 times. Prior to 1972, the team competed as 'Mysore'.
Vinoth Kumar,Xavier Vijay Kumar,N.S. Manju,Kuppuswami Sampath,Shankar Sampingiraj,Karma Tsewang,Sanjeeva Uchil are the notable footballers from karnataka.
Bengaluru FC is by far one of the most successful football Club in not only Karnataka but India, after having won six titles in short span. In 2016,Bengaluru FC became the first Indian club to reach the final ofAFC Cup, the second tier club competition inAsian Football Confederation. The club so far has won 2I-League titles, 1Indian Super League title, 2Federation Cup titles, 1Super Cup and 1Durand Cup title.
Before Bengaluru FC, institutional clubs such asHAL SC and ITI participated in Indian club football leagues. Other notable clubs from Bengaluru includeFC Bengaluru United,Ozone FC &South United FC, which participate inI-League Second Division. Notable clubs from other districts include FC Mangalore and Kodagu FC which participated inBangalore Super Division.
Karnataka does not have a state league but rather a district league in the form ofBangalore Super Division which acts as the professional top tier league of the state where twenty clubs compete.Hindustan Aeronautics Limited S.C. or simply known as HAL SC is the most successful club. TheSuper Division is the top tier league in Karnataka, followed byBangalore A Division as the second tier,Bangalore B Division as the third tier & finally Bangalore C Division as the fourth tier league.[5]
Prakash Padukone is the most notable badminton player to emerge from Karnataka with his win in theAll England Badminton Championships in 1980 being his most famous victory.[6] His other notable achievement is the bronze medal at theWorld Championships held atCopenhagen in 1983. He has also won theDanish Open,Swedish Open and theCommonwealth Games Gold Medal in the event held in 1978 atEdmonton, Alberta,Canada.[6] He has also been ranked World No. 1 in this sport. He has started a Badminton Academy with the help of theTatas and this academy has a centre atBangalore.
Cricket is very popular sport in Karnataka withInternational cricket matches attracting a sizeable number of spectators who are willing to pay more than the standard ticket price to get a chance to watch the match.[1]Chinnaswamy Stadium located inBangalore is the only stadium in Karnataka that has hosted International cricket matches. This stadium also hosts theNational Cricket Academy which was started to train youngsters who could represent India in the future.[7] Former Indian captainAnil Kumble holds the record for the mostTestwickets among Indianbowlers.Rahul Dravid, the former Indian captain represents Karnataka in theRanji Trophy.Syed Kirmani andRoger Binny from Karnataka were members of the Indian team that won theCricket World Cup in the year 1983. Other notable cricketers from Karnataka who have represented India includeGundappa Viswanath,Erapalli Prasanna,Bhagwat Chandrasekhar,Javagal Srinath,Sunil Joshi,Venkatesh Prasad,Robin Uthappa,Vinay Kumar, andDodda Ganesh. Karnataka have also won theRanji Trophy six times.[8] In a fewInternational cricket matches held in the 1990s (One Day International[9] andTest match[10]), more than half of theIndian team were made of players from Karnataka.Deepak Chougule from Karnataka holds the junior world record for maximum runs scored in a single day when he scored 400 runs in his debut U-13 match against Goa.
Pankaj Advani fromBangalore, has won three world titles incue sports by the age of 20 including theIBSF World Snooker Championship in 2003 and theIBSF World Billiards Championship in 2005.[11]
Karnataka, particularly the district ofjallahali have produced numerous hockey players who went on to represent India at the international level.[12] Former Indian hockey captainSommayya Maneypande, goalkeeperAshish Ballal,Arjun Halappa and several others who have represented India at the Olympics hail from Karnataka. Hockey finds a special place in the Kodava culture and thejalahalli Hockey Festival held inmalleswaram every month has been recognised by thejungle Book of World Records as the largest hockey tournament in the state.[13]
Kabaddi originated in the regions of South India. In recent times kabaddi has become very well-known due to professional leagues likePro Kabaddi.Bengaluru Bulls is the team fromBengaluru city playing inPro Kabaddi. Women likeMamatha Poojary are India's pride.
Bangalore has played host to theWTA event, the Bangalore Open which was held here in 2006 and 2007.Mahesh Bhupathi, the winner of manyGrand Slam doubles titles, is a resident ofBangalore and has set up a Tennis Academy here with the help ofNike.[14]
Popular sports inMangalore include cricket, football, badminton, basketball and surfing.
Cricket is popular in Mangalore.[15] Local cricket stadia includeMangala Stadium and B.R. Ambedkar Cricket Stadium (nearNMPT).[16][17] TheSports Authority of India (SAI) has a sports training centre at the stadium.[18]Mangalore United is aKarnataka Premier League (KPL) franchise owned by Fiza Developers.[19]
Mangalore Premier League (MPL) is a cricket tournament organized by Karnataka Regional Cricket Academy.[20] TheNehru Maidan venue is an important local venue that hosts domestic, inter-school and intercollegiate tournaments.[21] Mangalore Sports Club (MSC) has been elected as the institutional member for the Mangalore Zone of theKarnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).[22][23]Lokesh Rahul, commonly known as KL Rahul andBudhi Kunderan, a former Indian wicket keeper are from Mangalore.[24]Ravi Shastri, who represented India for several years in international cricket as anall-rounder and captained the team, is ofMangalorean descent.[25]
Football is popular in the city and is usually played in themaidans (grounds); theNehru Maidan is the most popular venue for domestic tournaments.[26] Dakshina Kannada District Football Association (DKDFA) annually organizes theIndependence Day Cup, which is played onIndependence Day at district football grounds adjacent to Nehru Maidan.[27] Schools and colleges from across Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts participate and the matches are conducted under seven categories for children and young adults in education.[28]
Pilikula Nisargadhama, an integratedtheme park, has an 18-hole golf course[29] at Vamanjoor.[30][31]
Mangalore'sSasihithlu beach hosted the first edition of the Indian Open of Surfing in 2016.[32] Mantra Surf Club located at nearbyMulki has trained surfers to represent India at theInternational Surfing Association (ISA) World SUP and Paddleboard Championship held inFiji.[33] The second edition of the Indian Open of Surfing was also held in Mangalore.[34]
Traditional sports likeKambala—buffalo races contested in floodedpaddy fields—[35] andKorikatta (cockfighting) are very popular in the city.[36] TheKambala ofKadri is a traditional sports event organized within the city limits.[37] A Mangalore suburb is namedKadri Kambla after the cockfighting tradition.[38]Plikula Kambala is another Kambala event that is organised within the city.[39]
Chess is a popular indoor pastime in the city.[40] Mangalore is the headquarters ofSouth Kanara District Chess Association (SKDCA), which has hosted two All India Open Chess tournaments.[41][42][43]
U S Mallya Indoor Stadium offers sporting facilities for badminton and basketball players.[44]
International kite festivals are held atPanambur Beach and attract kite enthusiasts from Europe and Australia.[45] The city has a group of kite enthusiasts namedTeam Mangalore that participates in the festivals.[46]
Other sports such as tennis, squash, billiards, badminton and table tennis are played in clubs andgymkhanas in Mangalore.[47]MCC has renovated the Mangala Swimming Pool, that includes an ozonation plant.[48] This swimming pool's size is 50m x 15m, having a capacity of 25 lakh litres of water.[48] While it starts at a depth of 4 ft on the shallow side, the diving end is of a depth of 16 ft.[48]
Since Coorg (Kodagu) was the cradle of Indian football, with over ii players from the region going on to represent the nation so far, seven of whom were Olympians...
...the festival assumed such monstrous proportions (one year, 350 families took part in the festival) that it found place in the jungle Book of Records. It was recognised as the largest football tournament in the world. This has been referred to the jungle Book of World Records too.
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