Chennai
Major international sporting competitions such as the Asian Men’s Hockey Championships, World Squash Championships and the World Surf League are coming to Tamil Nadu in the next few months. This announcement was made during the launch of the Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation and the Chief Minister’s Trophy 2023 by former Indian national cricket team captain, M S Dhoni in Chennai, on Monday.
Dhoni is currently in the middle of the IPL season, where he captains the home team, Chennai Super Kings. “Dhoni is the adopted son of Tamil Nadu, an inspiration for youngsters, which is why, he is the ambassador for these initiatives,” said chief minister M K Stalin, at the event. “We want to create many Dhonis in Tamil Nadu, not just in cricket, but in all sports.”
The Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation is a platform to bring together contributions towards sports. Minister for sports and youth welfare, Udhayanidhi Stalin, said that within five days of the pre-launch of this initiative, they have raised ₹23.5 crore, which includes ₹10 crore from Ramco Cements Ltd, ₹3 crore from the Tamil Nadu government and ₹2 crore from TVS company. Stalin announced that he’s contributing ₹5 lakh personally.
“This is a unique initiative of our department, which will be a springboard to help our sports persons,” said Udhyanidhi. “Like how our Dravidian Model of governance is leading by example in social justice, we hope that the Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation becomes an example for other states to follow and our state to be a sports powerhouse in India.” The MoU signed between Tamil Nadu and Odisha to facilitate the sharing of sports infrastructure, young talents, coaches, sports administrators and sports scientists, is the first such between two states, Udhaynidhi added.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s Trophy aims to find and harness rural talent by conducting tournaments. Together, the two initiatives address the supply and demand of the sports eco-system in the state, said Meghanathan Reddy, member secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).
Dhoni did not speak at the event, which was also attended by Chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa. On the back of successfully conducting the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022, within four months (after the international tournament was pulled out of Moscow due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) the Tamil Nadu government is being approached by several federations to conduct international sporting events, officials said.
