RAIGAD

Bail-gada shariyat, or bullock cart races, were once a common tradition across rural Maharashtra, including Raigad district. The races were banned in 2011, but in 2017, the State government enacted legislation to restart the races. However, the Bombay High Court stayed the legislation, and the Supreme Court initially declined to lift the stay, referring the matter to a larger bench. In 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the State’s legislation, thereby legalizing the races once more.

Similar games are played in Tamil Nadu, where it is known as ‘Jallikattu', also known as 'eruthazhuvuthal', and is played as part of the Pongal harvest festival. The Bail Gada shariyats of Maharashtra resemble the 'Kambala' race, held in Karnataka between November and March, which involves a pair of buffaloes tied to a plow and anchored by one person. They are made to run in parallel muddy tracks in a competition in which the fastest team wins.

These races are somewhat popular in the district and are occasionally held in the rural regions.

Kabaddi is a widely popular sport in the Raigad district, particularly in rural areas. However, with the growing popularity of national leagues like the Pro Kabaddi League, the sport has also gained traction in urban regions. Kabaddi teams from the district regularly participate in various tournaments and have earned a respectable reputation. Notably, the Raigad team secured 11th place out of 16 district teams in the 2024 Krantijyot Mahila Pratishthan Yuva Kabaddi Series (Men’s) Inter-District Youth League. In the same year, they advanced to the semi-finals of the 51st Junior State-Level Kabaddi Tournament, marking a commendable achievement.

The district also hosts several inter-district and local tournaments, such as the Raigad District Senior Kabaddi Spardha and the Late Atish Aakash Memorial Cup. This thriving kabaddi culture owes much to the efforts of the Raigad Kabaddi Association, which continues to nurture and promote the sport at all levels.

Cricket remains the most popular sport in the district. Notably, Sachin Tendulkar, who is also known as the god of cricket, has his roots in Alibaug. Local cricket tournaments, which usually use the soft tennis ball to play, are very popular, and almost every town has its own ‘Premier League’ modeled after the Indian Premier League (IPL). Many individuals narrate stories of having watched popular cricket players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Bapu Nadkarni, Ramakant Desai, and Karsan Ghavri play season cricket on the Panvel Nagar Palika ground. In addition to this, the sport is played in almost every park, school, and housing society that one can play in. Raigad also has various cricket clubs that participate in several state and regional tournaments. The Raigad Royals team that plays in the Maharashtra Premier League won the championship in 2009 and were runners-up in 2010 and 2011. However, in 2024, when the tournament was revived after nearly a decade, Raigad Royals sadly finished fifth and weren’t able to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Football takes up the second spot when it comes to popularity in the district. The sport is extremely popular in urban regions and is played in almost every school, park, and college. Various privately owned turfs also exist in which people usually play for recreational purposes. Clubs and associations participate in and organise local district-level tournaments such as the Raigad Youth Football League, etc. A few associations, such as the Raigad District Amateur Football Association, are also recognised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

The sport is quite popular amongst girls as well; the Raigad women’s team has participated in the Sub-junior, Junior, and above-19 tournaments that are organized by the Western India Football Association (WIFA). Likewise, the men’s team also participates in these inter-district tournaments organized by WIFA. Notably, Angad Kumar Kailaschand Yadav, a resident of Raigad, was declared by WIFA to be a part of the Maharashtra Jr. Boys team in the Junior Boys National Football Championship was Tier 1 in 2024.

Ball badminton is a sport native to India. It is a racket sport game, played with a yellow ball made of wool, on a court of fixed dimensions (12 by 24 metres) divided by a net. The game was played as early as 1856 by the royal family in Tanjore, the capital of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu.

More recently, indoor versions of the game have been played under artificial lighting. All-India tournaments are conducted regularly using floodlights in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. The 70th Senior National Ball Badminton Tournament for Women was conducted in Kamothe, a town in Raigad district. Raigad too has its own Women’s Ball-Badminton team, which is managed and trained by the Raigad Ball-Badminton Association.

Patankar was born on 24 November 1930 in Pen. He is an Indian former cricketer who played in one Test in 1955. A wicket-keeper and lower-order right-handed batsman, Patankar replaced his Bombay wicketkeeping colleague Naren Tamhane, who was injured, for the fourth game of the five-match Test series against New Zealand in 1955–56, but lost his place when Tamhane replaced him for the final game of the series. He played in Bombay's Ranji Trophy-winning teams in 1960–61 and 1965–66, but never played an uninterrupted season, Tamhane being the senior Bombay wicket-keeper for most of that period. He also worked for Indian companies such as BEST, Killick Indus, and Laxmi Vishnu.

Born on 21 November 1920 in Karjat, Chandorkar was an Indian former cricketer who played in seven first-class matches between 1943 and 1951. He celebrated his 100th birthday in November 2020, becoming India's oldest living first-class cricketer. From the death of Alan Burgess in January 2021 until his death, Chandorkar was the world's oldest living first-class cricketer. He passed away in Ambernath on 3 September 2021.

Umesh Narayan Kulkarni, born on 7 March 1942 in Alibaug, is a former Indian cricketer who played four Test matches for India in 1967–68 on the tour to Australia and New Zealand. A left-arm fast-medium bowler, Kulkarni played domestic cricket in India, mostly for Bombay, from 1963–64 to 1969–70. After the tour, injuries ended Kulkarni's playing career. He later worked for the Tata Group.

Madhusudan Ramachandra Rege, born on 18 March 1924 in Panvel, was an Indian cricketer who played in one Test match in 1949 against the West Indies. He has the dubious distinction of being the first Indian cricketer to be called for throwing. He played for Maharashtra from 1944–45 to 1954–55, captaining the team from 1951–52 to 1954–55. His highest score was 164, against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy in 1953–54.

Akshay Darekar was born on 31 July 1988 in Panvel. He is an active cricket player who plays for Maharashtra in Indian domestic cricket. He is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He has also played for the India A cricket team in 2012.

Vijay Mhatre was a Kabaddi player and the first person from Raigad to win the Maharashtra government’s prestigious sports award, the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar. His father, like him, was a famous Kabaddi player too; following in his footsteps, a young Vijay joined the Kalbhairav Mandal in Borse to professionally play Kabaddi. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to play the sport professionally, and he had to settle for a job in a primary school as a teacher. Though he remained active in Kabbadi circles, he was fondly known as ‘Guruji’ due to his job as a teacher.

He then relocated to Mumbai and started playing Kabaddi for a few local clubs, while working for the Central Railways. Mahindra Club was impressed by his skills and soon hired him to play for them. He professionally played for the Mahindra Club till 2001. He was then selected to play for Mumbai, Raigad, and lastly the Maharashtra teams for various Inter-district and National level tournaments. Notably, he played for the Maharashtra team 5 times, and he was also the captain of the Maharashtra team in a few of these tournaments. He sadly passed away on 14 March 2024 at the age of 71.

Suma, originally from Panvel, is a 2004 Athens Olympic finalist in shooting. During her Olympic preparations, Panvel and even Navi Mumbai lacked shooting facilities, compelling her to travel approximately two hours each way to Dadar for training: a routine she maintained for 11 years. Her journey in shooting saw its first major milestone in 2002 when she received the prestigious Arjuna Award. In 2022, she made history by becoming the first woman shooter, and only the fifth overall, to win the Dronacharya Award for her exceptional contributions to the sport.

Suma also holds a world record of scoring 400 points in the 10m air rifle event, a feat she achieved at the 2004 Asian Shooting Championship in Kuala Lumpur. Over the years, she has earned numerous medals at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Shooting Championship, and several national-level events. In 2006, she founded the Lakshya Shooting Club in New Panvel, an organization to support budding shooters, with the mission of "Live for the glory of the game. Strive for perfection. Create and instill confidence, with sportsmanship spirit.” Since 2021, Suma has been serving as the Chief Coach of the Indian Senior Shooting Team, continuing to inspire and shape the next generation of shooters.

Pandhari Sheth Phadke belonged to a village named Vihighar near Panvel. He was fond of Bail-Gada Shariyat from a very young age. It is said he had about 40 to 50 bullocks that were capable of racing in his bullock shed. The family would spend over 1 lakh rupees to provide food for these bullocks. A regular diet for these bullocks included groundnuts, cashews, almonds,  pistachios, dal, and coconut. Phadke always believed the winning of the bullocks depends on what they eat and the exercise that they do every day.

Phadke was also the chief (Adhyaksha) of the Maharashtra Bailgada Shariyat Association. When bullock racing was banned, Phadke played a pivotal role in raising requests for restarting these races. With his passion for this sport, he had brought a lot of glamor to it. Phadke always made sure that he was present for every bullock race happening anywhere in Maharashtra. His participation didn’t end there; he would always make it a point to purchase the winning bullock from these races. He was ready to pay whatever price the owner would demand to bring this winning bullock home.

His beloved bullock is called ‘Badal’. Badal is extremely popular amongst the Bailgada Shariyat followers. He once won a race where he earned a prize money of Rs 11 lakh. He would always come first in every race that he participated in.

Pandharinath Phadke was also a member of the Shetkari Kamgar Paksha. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. In February 2024, Phadke died of a heart attack in his car while traveling back from his office.

The wrestling ground at the Navi Mumbai Police Headquarters has become a key training site for young wrestlers since 2019. Head Constable Sampatti Yelkar, a national-level wrestler and graduate of the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, began coaching his son and a few batchmates here. Yelkar, who also serves as the sports in-charge for the Police Department, guided the students as they progressed from basic training to competing in school-level tournaments. Their achievements encouraged more children to join, increasing the number of trainees on the ground.

Training initially took place on an athletics mat, but the ground has since been developed into a traditional wrestling akhada, prepared using Panchakarma-infused mud. This special mud was brought from Sangli, with funds raised by local villagers and sports enthusiasts. Preparing the ground required two dumpers of red soil along with 300 kg of ghee, 150 kg of cooking oil, 20 kg of camphor, 300 kg of turmeric, and large amounts of milk and buttermilk.

In October of last year, the wrestling ground hosted a district-level competition organized by the Stairs Foundation National Sports Promotion Organization, where 36 students from Yelkar’s training group won medals across various categories. Among them were Shaktivel, who secured a gold medal, and seven-year-old Shaurya Kolekar, the youngest medalist. Today, around 19 girls also train at the ground, which runs four-hour daily sessions and continues to serve as a vibrant space for nurturing local wrestling talent.

Established in 2006 by local politician and former MLA Mr. Vivek Patil, the Karnala Sports Academy has produced several dedicated and talented athletes. In 2012, the academy launched Mission 2020 with the goal of sending at least one athlete to the Tokyo Olympics. However, the mission was fulfilled even earlier, when Ms. Ayonika Paul represented India at the Rio Olympics in 2016 in the Women’s Air Rifle Shooting category, under the guidance of star coach and Arjuna Awardee Ms. Suma Shirur.

The academy focuses on promoting sports at the grassroots level and providing youth in Navi Mumbai with the opportunity, infrastructure, and support needed to excel on international platforms. It offers various facilities, including swimming pools, a cricket pitch, basketball and badminton courts, and more. These are supported by qualified coaches and are open and accessible to the general public.

Spread across 17.5 acres in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, the Ramsheth Thakur International Sports Complex is the newest addition to the sports infrastructure of Raigad district. It was envisioned by Ex-MP Ramsheth Thakur and materialized by his son, and the current three-time MLA from Panvel constituency, Prashant Thakur. The complex offers a variety of facilities to its members, such as tennis courts, table tennis, squash courts, ballrooms, adventure sports, luxury suites, a skating rink, running tracks, lazy sit outs, and a boardroom, which can be used to play board games and much more. The complex is run and managed by the Shri Ramsheth Thakur Samajik Vikas Mandal.

The Kharghar Valley Golf Course is the region's first 18-hole championship-level golf course, developed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation. Designed by Vijit Nandrajog, the principal architect at Golf Design India, the course features a driving range, practice facilities, a green island, and an advanced water harvesting system comprising 15 water bodies. Nestled in a valley at the foothills of the Kharghar Hills, the golf course offers a picturesque setting. However, its location has raised concerns among environmentalists and NGOs, who argue that the project could disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the risk of landslides in the area.