Kolkata gets the first multi-sports museum
The World Cup fever is at its peak. Until now, our sense of sporting history was only restricted to watching old matches on the television. Kolkata’s love for sports has always been unparalleled. And now Kolkata has come up with a ‘wonderland’ for the sport lovers. You can now pay a tribute to the heroes who have inspired you at the Fanattic Sports Museum (FSM) of Ecospace, Newtown. Jointly owned by eminent historian, writer, commentator and journalist Boria Majumdar and industrialist Harshavardhan Neotia, this is the first multi-sports museum of the country. What makes the museum stand out is that it does not just celebrate cricket, football or other hockey, but also pays a unique tribute to chess, swimming, golf, gymnastics and various other sports that are less talked about in India.
Be it Pele, Tendulkar, Roger Federer or Usain Bolt, the Fanattic Sports Museum features sports-related artefacts, tools and sports gear used by famous sports personalities. The museum houses a spectacular collection of memorabilia of the Indian and international personalities across 15 different sports. You can catch a glimpse of Virat Kohli’s bat, Lionel Messi’s pair of boots and others. Boria Majumdar’s long association with Indian sports enabled him to collect some of these magnificent items. PV Sindhu’s match jersey when she won the silver medal in badminton at the 2016 Rio Olympic, tickets to Seven Olympic hockey matches where India bagged the gold medal, gloves of Abhinav Bindra when he won the gold for air rifle shooting during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Tendulkar’s gloves during his 100th century against Bangladesh in 2012, signed jersey worn by football maestro, Pele during 1970 FIFA World Cup, shirts worn by Para Olympian shot putter Deepa Malik, caps signed by tennis players Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Sania Mirza’s tennis racket, Boxing champion Mary Kom’s jersey and picture, Vishwanathan Anand’s signed chessboard --- you get to see all under the same roof.
The jerseys of Kolkata’s very own Jhulan Goswami and Sourav Gangualy, and of other IPL players are also on display. The walls have gigantic exhibits dedicated to Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Tendulkar. Witnessing these rare collections will give you a feeling that you have gone back to the past. The museum will also enable you to watch rare matches of your choice in personalized terminals and read some of the unique journals and books. There is a museum shop too where you can buy your favourite sports merchandise. Fanattic Sports Museum, the delight of the sports aficionados, is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm.
