With lower than 5 months left for the FIH Males’s Hockey World Cup, 2023 to start, hockey lovers the world over are excitedly trying in the direction of Odisha, which is able to host the mega sporting occasion.
As Odisha will not be solely the internet hosting state, but additionally sponsoring the nationwide males’s and ladies’s hockey groups, it’s leaving no stone unturned to make the occasion extra memorable than the earlier World Cup, which was additionally hosted right here.
The Hockey World Cup will likely be held in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar from January 13 to 29, 2023. A number of gamers, coaches and FIH officers have lauded the marvellous hockey stadium inside the enduring Kalinga Sports activities Advanced in Bhubaneswar, the place the final version of the World Cup was organised.
Other than the Kalinga Stadium, the 2023 World Cup matches may also be performed on the Birsa Munda Worldwide Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, Sundargarh.
Sundergarh district is claimed to be the center of hockey in India because the area has produced a number of worldwide hockey gamers akin to former captains Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey within the males’s workforce and Subhadra Pradhan and Jyoti Sunita Kulu within the girls’s workforce.
It has additionally produced greater than 60 worldwide hockey gamers, together with Olympians Lazarus Barla, William Xalco, Birendra Lakra and Sunita Lakra. Three gamers from Sundergarh — Deep Grace Ekka (girls’s workforce), Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra — made it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Video games.
Recognising the skills of the soil, Naveen Patnaik took the choice to construct the nation’s largest hockey stadium quickly after Odisha was chosen by the worldwide hockey federation (FIH) to host its flagship occasion for the second time in a row.
Moreover the principle stadium, which can have a 20,000 seating capability, a apply pitch can be being developed close by.
Then again, Kalinga Stadium can be being upgraded. Just lately, a model new turf has been laid for the upcoming World Cup.
Other than the stadiums, the state has additionally lined up numerous infrastructure and beautification initiatives within the cities of Bhubaneswar and Rourkela to offer a pleasing expertise to the hockey gamers, sports activities lovers and different friends through the World Cup. The state authorities is eying to make the Rourkela airstrip operational earlier than the occasion whereas connecting roads are being strengthened within the metal metropolis.
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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already unveiled the official emblem for the FIH Odisha Hockey Males’s World Cup 2023.
A gathering between the FIH and the Hockey India Committee of Directors (CoA) was held just lately in New Delhi the place each the organisations appreciated the infrastructure being developed for the event. They mentioned the official draw for the World Cup 2023 can be introduced in Bhubaneswar on September 8, 2022.
Odisha sports activities secretary R. Vineel Krishna mentioned, “We’re eagerly trying ahead to internet hosting the Hockey Males’s World Cup 2023. Whereas Kalinga Stadium is match prepared with two new pitches laid (important and apply), Birsa Munda Worldwide Hockey Stadium in Rourkela will likely be prepared within the coming months.”
Rourkela too goes by way of huge growth to welcome the collaborating groups, he mentioned.
