Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Nilgiris, Hockey Hub of Past, Awaits Its First Synthetic Turf
Hockey is a very popular sport in India, which has won eight Olympic gold medals in hockey.
For a long time, India found it hard to win after 1981, but Indian teams won bronze medals at the 2021 and 2024 Olympics.
The Nilgiris, a hilly area in southern India, used to be a great place for hockey.
More than 70 players from the Nilgiris played at the national level, and some even played for India.
In 1968, the Indian team that went to the Mexico Olympics trained in the Nilgiris.
Today the area has about 15 hockey clubs with 30 teams.
But there is no modern synthetic hockey turf there, which is a big problem for players.
A hockey group called Hockey-Nilgiris has been asking the government for over ten years to build one.
Now they are asking the Chief Minister to help pay for a synthetic turf so local players can train like national and international stars.
The Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, once a celebrated hockey hub, has produced over 70 hockey talents, including two international players.
The 1968 Indian men's hockey team trained in the Nilgiris ahead of the Mexico Olympics, and the Rangaswamy Cup national championship was held in Coonoor-Wellington that year.
There is still no synthetic hockey turf in the Nilgiris, which Hockey-Nilgiris president S. Anantha Krishnan calls a serious drawback for modern hockey development.
Hockey-Nilgiris has been petitioning state and central governments for more than a decade for a synthetic turf, including a 2022 letter to then chief minister M.K. Stalin.
The association wants Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to sanction funds under the TVK government's Olympic Centre of Excellence scheme.
- Who
- Hockey-Nilgiris president S. Anantha Krishnan and the district's hockey players and coaches, with appeals directed at government leaders including then chief minister M.K. Stalin and present chief minister C. Joseph Vijay.
- What
- A campaign to build a synthetic hockey turf in the Nilgiris, a district that was once a hockey hub, to modernize training for local players.
- When
- The effort has been ongoing for more than a decade; the latest appeal comes as the Hockey World Cup gets under way in Belgium and the Netherlands.
- Where
- The Nilgiris, especially the Coonoor area, in Tamil Nadu, India.
- Why
- To help Nilgiris players train on modern synthetic surfaces and compete at national and international levels of hockey.
- Hockey talents produced
- Over 70, including two international players
- Hockey clubs in Nilgiris
- Nearly 15 clubs with 30 teams
- India's Olympic hockey gold medals
- Eight
- Recent Olympic hockey medals
- Bronze in 2021 and 2024
- 1968 training camp
- Indian men's squad for Mexico Olympics trained in Nilgiris
- Synthetic turf in Nilgiris
- None
- Years of lobbying for turf
- More than a decade
- Rangaswamy Cup 1968
- National championship held in Coonoor-Wellington