Calicut - Sports

Sports

Calicut is known as the second Mecca of football (after Calcutta). The other most popular games in Calicut are cricket, basketball, badminton and volleyball.

The E. M. S Stadium hosted many international football matches of major football teams in the past. The city is home to many international footballers. One of the famous was Olympian Abdurahman who played for the nation in many international games including Melbourne olympic games. K.P. Sethu Madhavan, Premnath Philip, Sudheer etc. are some international footballers from Calicut. The seven-a-side form of football is also very famous in the city.

P. T. Usha, is a famous athlete who is regarded as one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced and is often called the "queen of Indian track and field". She is nicknamed Payyoli Express. Currently she runs the Usha School of Athletics at Koyilandy in Kerala.

T. Abdul Rahman, popularly known as Olympian Rahman, was an Indian Olympian footballer from Calicut. Rahman was a member of the Indian team that reached the semi-final in 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Other sports personalities include Tom Joseph (Indian volleyball player and was captain of Indian volley ball team) and Premnath Philips.

Jaseel P. Ismail, V. Diju, and Aparna Balan are three international badminton players from the city.

The Sports & Education Promotion Trust (SEPT) was established to promote sports development in India with focus on football. Started in 2004 and based in Calicut, the trust has set up 22 centres called "football nurseries" spread across seven districts in Kerala. Since 2010, Calicut Mini Marathon runs have been organized by IIM Kozhikode and witness participation of around 7000 people every year.