Asian Champions Trophy 2023: Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium gets a facelift, Egmore TNTA courts give way for practice turfs

Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu are gearing up to host a major International tournament at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in the city after 16 long years.

A much-neglected tennis court inside the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium will soon give way to the practice turf for the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament scheduled from to be held in the city from August 3 to 12. 

It was in 2007 that Asia Cup took place here followed by the India-Belgium series the next year. 

Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu are gearing up to host a major International tournament in the city after 16 long years.   

In fact, work has begun at the stadium, which has a capacity of around 8000, for the seating arrangements.

Sekar J Manoharan, president of HUTN and treasurer of Hockey India, is excited that Chennai is hosting the tournament after a long time. “The event will be a good preparation for the Asian Games, which is a qualification event for the Olympics. We laid the turf in 2015. The new blue colour turf imported from Germany will be laid in July,” he said.  

Sekar said work has already started to get the dressing room for players and officials ready. “We need three weeks and most probably, we will have the new turf ready by July 15. We are planning to get the Indian team to play a few friendly matches on the new turf,” he added. 

Doubts were expressed on the confirmation of Pakistan, said Sekar, but it was the first team to get the rooms booked for its players, support staff, and officials.

According to Sekar, Tamil Nadu Government is looking far ahead and not just the Asian Champions Trophy. “We have the Hockey India League. The State Government wants to host more International hockey tournaments in Chennai,” he said. 

Egmore TNTA courts gone

The Egmore-TNTA tennis (clay) courts in Egmore built in 1975 will no longer exist as they are in the process of being converted into a practice hockey turf.  

Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu has begun work to get the practice turf ready for the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament to be held at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium from August 3 to 12. 

“It’s sad to see them [courts] go away. But we are getting them [3 courts] at a place which is near and inside the Radhakrishnan Complex,” said Hiten Joshi, CEO of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association. 

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The Egmore courts have been used for several junior National and International tournaments. Recently, the National juniors championships and ITF junior tournaments took place.  

Joshi should be happy as SDAT will build three new courts at the then named Corporation Tennis Stadium—built in 1946—which has been lying in a disused state for more than a decade. The Corporation Stadium has hosted quite a few Davis Cup matches in the 1950s.  

SDAT is also in the process of getting the main hockey stadium in right shape before the International tournament. “We are completely getting the Stadium renovated from inside to outside. By mid-July we should lay the new turf at the main stadium,” said a senior official to  Sportstar.