Bhubaneswar: An exhibition match between hockey legends Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey’s sides will be played October 10 to mark the inauguration of the newly-refurbished Kalinga Stadium here.
Pillay and Tirkey will lead their respective teams comprising a mix of past and present players of the national team. Familiar faces to feature in the match including goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh as also retired former captain Sardar Singh, Viren Rasquinha, Deepak Thakur among others.
The match will showcase the newly-refurbished Kalinga Stadium that plays host to the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup, beginning here November 28.
Speaking on this regard, Tirkey stated, “There is no better way to portray the glory of Odisha and Kalinga Stadium than getting the past and present of hockey together by the way of this iconic match. I am really excited about the face-off against Dhanraj and team.”
Sports and Youth Services secretary Vishal Dev said the refurbished Kalinga Stadium will offer best of facilities to both players and fans. “With an aim to provide best of the sports infrastructure, the state government remodelled Kalinga Stadium into an international sports complex providing facilities for all kinds of sports and games,” he informed.
“Both, the practice and main pitches have been re-laid with a new blue turf as per the FIH specification. The stadium capacity has also been increased from 8,500 to 15,000, whilst adding two new galleries in the north and south ends of the stadium,” he signed off.