Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Aerial View (Chennai)

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (also known as the Marina Arena) is a multi-purpose stadium in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It has a capacity to seat 40,000 people. It hosts football matches and athletic competitions. The complex also houses a multipurpose indoor stadium with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 5,000 which hosts

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

games. The stadium is also used for functions and concerts. The stadium is named after

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. The stadium earlier hosted

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

test matches between 1956 and 1965. As of 19 August 2017 it has hosted 9 tests. The stadium is located at Sydenhams Road, Park Town behind the Chennai Central suburban railway station and the

Ripon Building The Ripon Building is the seat and headquarters of the Greater Chennai Corporation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is an example of neoclassical architecture, a combination of Ionic and Corinthian styles. The Ripon Building is an all-white structur ...

Tamil Nadu football team The Tamil Nadu football team is an Indian football team representing Tamil Nadu in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, in 1972–73 and 2012, and have never won. ...

, which plays in Santosh Trophy and

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural season o ...

, the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

team representing the city, use the stadium as their home ground.

History

The stadium was built on the area where the old

Madras Zoo Arignar Anna Zoological Park (abbreviated AAZP), also known as the Vandalur Zoo, is a zoological garden located in Vandalur, is in the southwestern part of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, about from the Chennai Central and from Chennai Airport. Establis ...

was located before it was shifted to its present location in at

Vandalur Vandalur is a census town and residential locality in southern part of the metropolitan city of Chennai, India. It is a neighbourhood in the southwestern part of Chennai. Vandalur serves as the southern gateway to Chennai city. It has the Ari ...

. It was known as the Corporation stadium until the 1980s and used to witness houseful audience for even the city league matches. When C. R. Viswanathan, then the Secretary of the

Tamil Nadu Football Association The Tamil Nadu Football Association (also known as Tamilnadu; abbreviated TNFA), formerly the Madras Football Association, is one of the 37 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. The TNFA ad ...

, was keen on bringing the Nehru Cup international football tournament to Chennai, a stadium of international standard was required. He approached the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa with a plan to convert the old Corporation stadium into a brand-new ultra-modern facility. The Chief Minister soon gave her approval and the new stadium was built in 1993, within a span of 234 days, at a cost of . In January 1993, the competition was conducted successfully in the new facility that was acknowledged to be arguably the best in the country also doubling up as a track and field venue. In 2012, the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, l ...

renovated the indoor stadium at a cost of with a new skating rink. In 2013,

upgraded the synthetic athletics track, football turf, floodlights and upgrading added a warm-up track north of the stadium at a cost of . Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Chennai panorama

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Chennai panorama

In 1993, this stadium in Chennai hosted the Nehru Cup international tournament. It has also hosted the SAF Games football in 1995, and the Jayalalitha Gold Cup international women's tournament, and many pre-Olympic and pre-world cup matches. The Nehru stadium at Chennai is considered the most favoured venue for any international fixture since this stadium is the only football facility in the country which has come up in keeping with the FIFA specifications with regard to the players’ facility, the dressing rooms and security aspects to name a few important parameters.

Facilities

The stadium has a seating capacity of 40,000 with 36,000 being seated , a 400-meter 8-lane synthetic athletics track and a natural football turf. There is an indoor stadium with a seating capacity of 8000 associated with the stadium. Two Beach Volleyball courts, three clay

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

courts, one

Throw ball Throwball is a non-contact ball sport played across a net between two teams of nine players on a rectangular court. Throwball is popular in Asia, especially on the Indian subcontinent, and was first played in India as a women's sport in Chenna ...

court, one

Kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

field and one Handball court are also available in the complex. There are also facilities for

Judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

Weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; promo ...

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

and

Carrom Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. The game is very popular in the Indian subcontinent, and is known by various names in different languages. In Sou ...

besides a Fitness Center and a conference hall. The indoor stadium hosts various functions and concerts.

Events

The stadium hosted nine

Test matches between 1956 and 1965. In 1998, it hosted the World Volleyball Grand Prix tournament.

Records

Football

The highest goal scoring match in

with 6 goals between

and Mumbai City FC (5–1) on 28 October 2014 in the

2014 Indian Super League season The 2014 Hero Indian Super League was the first season of the Indian Super League, the top flight football league of India. The season featured eight teams, each playing 14 matches during the regular season. The regular season started on 12 Oct ...

Cricket

The highest test cricket scores were made by

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on ...

with 600–9 and 537–9. The most runs scored here was by Vijay Manjrekar (487 runs), Chandu Borde (431 runs) and Budhi Kunderan (346 runs). The most wickets taken here was by Bapu Nadkarni (20 wickets), Salim Durani (19 wickets) and Subhash Gupte (17 wickets). Highest opening stand of 413 runs was recorded here by MH Mankad and P Roy against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

List of Five Wicket Hauls

Tests

A total of 12 five-wicket hauls in Test matches have been taken at the venue.

References

{{Chennai Topics Volleyball venues in India Sports venues in Chennai Football venues in Tamil Nadu Indoor arenas in India Football in Tamil Nadu Sports venues in Tamil Nadu Multi-purpose stadiums in India Athletics (track and field) venues in India Monuments and memorials to Jawaharlal Nehru Basketball venues in India Indian Super League stadiums Sports venues completed in 1993 1993 establishments in Tamil Nadu