Rourkela: Odisha will be hosting the men’s hockey World Cup in 2023. Earlier all important matches were played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. However, for the 2023 edition of the tournament this city will host some games at the Biju Patnaik hockey stadium. Preparations to host the matches are in full swing.
FIH chief Narinder Batra, Hockey India (HI) chief executive Elena Norman, Odisha Sports and Youth Services Secretary Vishal Dev and IDCO MD Sanjay Singh visited the stadium here Thursday to look into the arrangements.
The hockey stadium is maintained by the Rourkela Steel Plant authorities. A decision to expand the capacity of the stadium was taken earlier. However, the outbreak of the pandemic has affected the progress of expansion plans.
A separate HI team inspected Friday the hockey stadium to take stock of the infrastructural needs. A visit by Odisha Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy and 5T Secretary VK Pandian is expected Friday evening. They along with the FIH and HI officials are likely to review the facilities at the stadium and other infrastructure in the city.
Plans are afoot to set up an astro-turf practice pitch and to upgrade the changing rooms for players, match officials. Also modern floodlights will come up at the stadium and seating capacity will be doubled from the present one of 15,000. Sources said that enough space is available for expansion.
Bhubaneswar had hosted the 2018 edition of the tournament. Odisha has once more been chosen as the venue for the 2023 World Cup. This time however, not all the games will be played at the Odisha capital. The ‘Steel City’ has been chosen as the second venue of the event to be played January 13 to 29, 2023.
PNN