Hyderabad – A formidable sporting hub
Delicious cuisines and historical monuments – These are the first things which come to mind when one hears of Hyderabad. But there’s much more to the city of Nizams which has established itself as one of India’s major sporting center, courtesy to the state-of-the-art facilities it offers which allows the country’s best athletes to train in the city.
Delicious cuisines and historical monuments – These are the first things which come to mind when one hears of Hyderabad. But there’s much more to the city of Nizams which has established itself as one of India’s major sporting center, courtesy to the state-of-the-art facilities it offers which allows the country’s best athletes to train in the city.
Roll back the years to the National Games of 2002, which were hosted in the city. World-class facilities and stadiums were built to accommodate the players’ needs which acted as the perfect launch pad for athletes such as Saina Mirza, Gagan Narang to name a few and inspired the youngsters to take up sport. From Pullela Gopichand in badminton, whose academy’s players keep bringing laurels for the country (Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi etc) to Hockey aces Mukesh Kumar and Alyousis Edwards, this city has never been short of producing champions. Here are a few more sporting facts from Hyderabad:
1. Footballing maestro: Hyderabad was considered as a factory for football in the 1960s and is home to legendary football player Peter Thangaraj, who played for the Indian football team in 1956 and 1960 Olympic games and was voted as Asia’s best goalkeeper in 1958.
2. Shuttling towards glory: Considered as the badminton hub of the country and boasting of Olympic and World medalists, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, the shuttle sport is one of the most popular sport in the city.
3. Gymnastics champion: Hyderabad’s Budda Aruna Reddy became the first Indian gymnast to win a World Cup medal when she clinched a bronze medal in 2018 World Cup, held in Melbourne.
The RFYS initiative began in the City of Pearls in 2017-18 and a number of institutes registered themselves in both – Football and Athletics. While the performance in football wasn’t as expected as none of the city’s institutes could make it to the national championship, the athletes managed to impress in the inaugural RFYS Athletics Tournament. Most notable performances came from Telangana State Sports School; the runner-up in 4*100m relay in Junior Boys category. Two athletes from the institute stood out. While Bhagya Laxmi Dontu won gold in 800m and 1500m races in the Junior Girls category, Srikanth Dhanavath bagged the 400m gold in Senior Boys category.
It must be said that considering the potential of Hyderabad, the institutes will be eager to make more impact in the third edition of RFYS and the start so far has been promising. Let’s wait and watch who comes up trumps this year.
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