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Kolkata’s Favorite Sports

Like most of India, Kolkatans are mainly fans of Soccer (football).  The city, however, has been the home of many athletes that have won major competitions. Some of the winners of the summer Olympics include: Norman Pritchard, Richard James Allen, Leslie Caudius, Gurbux Singh, Dr. Vece Paes , Leander Paes and the more current most successful cricket captain from the country of India is Sourav Ganguly. But the Olympic games is not the only sport where Kolkata born athletes excel. Gobor Goho is a world amateur wrestling champion. Manotosh Roy is a former Mr. Universe. Manohar Aich was a former Mr. World. Mihir Sen was the first person to swim across the English channel in 1948. His record is held in the Guinness Book of Records. He also swam across the seven straits across all the major continents. Joytirmoyee Sikdar won four gold metals in the Asian Games in racing. There are many more who have accomplished great things in different sports arenas around the world.

Because of their love for football, the city has built a world class stadium called Yuva Bharati Krirangan or Salt Lake Stadium. It holds 122,000 people and is used for mainly football matches. The Eden Gardens Stadium is used for cricket matches. Also making a new claim to the sport of golf, Kolkata has built some of the best golf courses of its kind the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. They didn’t forget tennis either, these beautiful courts are called South Club. Adding another British inspired sport are the equestrian arenas.

There are three football teams to choose from in the city. East Bengal, Mohan Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. These people choose a team and are absolutely crazy about them. They follow it like a religious faith. But the sport following does not save the crazy for only football. Cricket is also a sport the locals are extremely passionate about. We a team wins the streets go off with excitement. So no matter what sport visitors come to watch, there is always a good stay at one of the five star Kolkata hotels.

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