The importance of sports in the city can be gauged from the fact that it has produced 26 Olympians for the nation. It has a reputation of being the sports capital of the state with a wide range of sporting activities taking place every year.
The early history of Steel City is replete with stories of sporting events at arenas built for the purpose, including a horse racing track, which in later times became a golf course, and the only Badminton Stadium in the erstwhile state of undivided Bihar. In 1927, the Jamshedpur Athletic Club was established and since the 1930s, Sports Competitions for ladies and children were added to events.
A university blue in cricket, Dorabji Tata, Jamsetji Tata’s son, united the people of the country by instituting the Indian Olympic movement. This was the first time India was represented on an international sporting platform. Sport has been a way of life at Jamshedpur since its inception. Today it is home to leading Indian sportspersons, Tata Football Academy, Tata Archery Academy and Tata Athletics Academy. It is also home to Jamshedpur Football Club.
“Residents know that their steel city has always had a deep cultural heart, and a great love for sports. The city is well-known among sports lovers, its golf tournaments draw enthusiasts from all over, it has hosted national and international cricket matches, and is an established national center for football and archery,” said Naveen Parekh, keen golfer.
Sports infrastructure like JR D Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur is an arena of international standards. The 30-acre multi -purpose stadium has a seating capacity of 35,000, an international football field, an eight-lane mono-synthetic track and training centres for resident sportspersons. Built in 1939 and named after Sir John Lawrence Keenan, one of the then general managers of Tata Steel, the stadium was a prime cricket venue in eastern India after Calcutta’s fabled Eden Gardens.
It has hosted 10 international matches, first being the India-West Indies match on December 7, 1983, so far.
With golf seeing a tremendous surge in popularity in Jamshedpur in recent years, Golmuri Golf Course became an 18-hole golf course, with amenities comparable to the best in the country.
Steel City Jamshedpur and ‘Meeca of Sports’ Olympics have an unbound connection. The architect of the Steel City Sir Dorabji Tata financed Indian athletes who participated in the 1920 Olympics from his own personal wealth.