Royal Connaught Boat Club- Rowing past 150 years
New Modern Sports and Recreation Hall on the anvil
Pune 10 January 2018 : The Royal Connaught Boat Club making waves since 19th Century is completing Glorious 150 years in 2018 . Host to outstanding sports facilities , the important milestone will see a kick start of another mission of setting up a renewed Modern Sports Complex , Recreation Hall and reiterating its commitment to provide high level amenities . The renewed modern sports complex will come up in next two to three years . The information was given at a Press Conference in presence of Balakrishna Hegde President The Royal Connaught Boat Club , Arun Kudale Hon. Secretary , Gopaldas Dawara amongst others.
Speaking on the occasion Balakrishna Hegde President The Royal Connaught Boat Club said that The Royal Connaught Boat Club was established in 1868 under the name Poona Boat Club and then in 1889 renamed as Poona Royal Connaught Club to honour The Royal His Highness , The Duke of Connaught , the Commander in Chief of the Bombay Army in 1928 . The Club name was changed to The Royal Connaught Boat Club.To mark the Centenary year, we are going to build a new state of the art SPORTS COMPLEX for the use of our members and guests and also to organize District and State level sports events in our Club. We are also going to build a separate building to accommodate sound proof recreation facilities and Basement Parking for 100 Cars. Overall we would like to bring a new look to our Club .
Arun Kudale Hon. Secretary said that while The Royal Connaught Boat Club has a rich heritage of 150 years , we intend to move in the future with more zest and enthusiasm . We are planning to revamp the sports facilities into a modern sports complex with high class amenities for Gym , Zumba ,Yoga, Billiards , Snooker , Table Tennis , Badminton , Squash , Card Room , Chess , Carom Board etc in addition to existing sports facilities like Tennis and Swimming and Boating etc. A separate building apart from these will host Air Conditioned River View Lounge Bar , Resto Bar , Party Hall and a basement parking. We will be opening up the membership for 100 more New Members this year.
Legacy : The Club saw the formation of Amateur Rowing Association in 1933 in its premises and then was followed by number of regattas played in rotation at Pune, Chennai and Kolkatta. The first International Regatta was held under the aegis of the club in 1976-77. The club also hosted National Rowing Championship in 1982,1983 and 1985.Regular sports competitions and tournaments are arranged throughout the year. Recent major sporting events include National Level Dry Rowing Competition held in 2016 ,District level Table Tennis Competitions amongst others in 2017. The Club has been fortunate to have Stalwarts as members including Commander KB Godrej , SL Kirloskar , Dr B.B. Gokhale , FramPocha, Gustasp Rasheed , ChandrakantShirole, Hasmukh Shah, S.S. KanitkarVijay Bhave, Gopaldas Dawara , Nilubhau Limaye , Dr Gharpure and many others.
