Olympic City to F1-ready motorsports hub: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay announces major sports infrastructure push in Chennai

Chennai is set to get a dedicated Olympic City and a separate motorsports city as Tamil Nadu looks to strengthen its sports infrastructure and create facilities for athletes and motorsport events.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday announced the establishment of a world-class Tamil Nadu Olympic City in Chennai under Rule 110 in the State Assembly. The facility will be developed by the Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority, ANI reported on Thursday.

According to the Tamil Nadu CMO, the Olympic City will feature world-class sports arenas, state-of-the-art sporting equipment, a High Performance Training Centre, and dedicated Sports Science and Sports Medicine centres.

The facility will also include accommodation for sportspersons and coaches.

The Olympic City is intended to function as an integrated sports hub, offering athletes advanced training and support facilities.

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The state government aims to use the facility to help sportspersons from Tamil Nadu win more medals at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events.

Chennai to get dedicated motorsports city

Vijay also announced plans to establish a dedicated motorsports city in Chennai to host Formula 1-4 races in the city.

The announcement comes at a time when efforts are underway at the national level to bring Formula 1 racing back to India. In June, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) created a task force to monitor motorsports, with a vision to bring back Formula 1 racing in the country by the end of 2028.

"We will try to bring back F1 in India by 2028. For this, we created a task force which monitors motor sports in the country and submits its report to the Ministry," an MYAS source told ANI on Saturday.

Earlier this year, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) President Arindam Ghosh attended a meeting with the Sports Ministry in New Delhi and said efforts were underway to bring Formula 1 back to India by 2030, along with a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and MotoGP by 2028.

Later, at the FMSCI Annual Awards function, Ghosh said, "The meeting with Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State Raksha Khadse, senior officials and potential stakeholders in New Delhi, focused primarily on bringing F1, MotoGP and a round of the WRC to India."

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"The Federation stressed the need to develop Indian drivers and the overall development of motorsports in India, and the FMSCI's inputs were well received," he added.

At the Awards Night in Bengaluru, all the Motorsports National champions for 2025 were honoured. A total of 137 trophies across 17 disciplines, covering both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, were presented.

Awards were also given to the winning teams, promoters and sponsors of the 17 National championships.