All roads of the capital city Bhubaneswar these days lead to Kalinga Stadium where the Hockey World Cup-2018 is being held. A ticket to watch the star-studded inaugural extravaganza was hugely prized by hockey aficionados, but there were many who were left disappointed with all tickets sold out. Orissa POST spoke to a few fans who were keen to watch the show but didn’t get the opportunity.
Saphik Kumar Nanda from Phulbani works in a private company in Bhubaneswar. He said, “Ever since we heard that King Khan and Madhuri were to perform at Kalinga Stadium, my friends and I tried our best to get tickets. But we couldn’t. I am a bit upset that I can’t be part of such a huge event. I asked some of my friends who work for media houses, but they too had no tickets to spare. It is unfortunate that many city youths like me will not get to see the event while others from outside have managed to get tickets. I heard that the online sale of tickets was closed within two hours of its opening.”
Subhasish Kumar, a music director from Bhubaneswar, said, “Even though I have some good contacts with people who are involved with the event, I couldn’t get a ticket. Interestingly, I was involved with the composition of two theme songs for the event. I believe many people failed to get tickets due to lack of proper information. Since I spend the whole day in my recording studio, I couldn’t go through the advertisements and was not aware of how to obtain the tickets. At the last moment, I tried to book a ticket through the online portal but by then there were no tickets available. However, I am happy I have got a ticket to AR Rahman’s programme to be held in Cuttack. The authorities should do something to streamline the selling of tickets.”
Lalatendu Bhoi, a social worker from the city, is sad that he did not get a ticket to the event despite all his efforts. “I am appalled to learn that tickets are being sold at exorbitant rates by black marketers. I tried to buy a ticket online but was not able to get one. Then I visited the ticket booking counter till the last day but I couldn’t get a ticket. At the same time, many have bought tickets in bulk leading to the crash of the online ticket booking site. Now, it has come to light that tickets were being sold at eight times more than the real price,” he said.
Bratati Baral, OP