Rourkela stadium will help India become a hockey powerhouse: Patnaik

Odisha CM says each player will get ₹1 crore as reward if India win World Cup.

Updated on: Jan 5, 2023, 23:14:55 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Bhubaneswar

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The Odisha government will award ₹1 crore each to members of the Indian men's hockey team if it wins the 15th World Cup beginning next week in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik interacts with Indian Hockey team members (ANI/Naveen Patnaik Twitter)

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made the announcement shortly after he inaugurated the Birsa Munda hockey stadium in Rourkela where 20 of the 44 matches will be played in the tournament between January 13 and 29.

India have won the men's World Cup once in 1975 when the team led by Ajit Pal Singh beat Pakistan 2-1 in the final held in Kuala Lumpur. Patnaik who met the India team, said the Birsa Munda stadium would be instrumental in making India a hockey powerhouse. “It will inspire many budding players of the country and the world. The stadium would be biggest gift of Odisha to the nation,” he said after inaugurating the ₹261-crore stadium that can hold 20,000 spectators.

The stadium, named after freedom fighter Birsa Munda and built on 15 acres of land, will host India’s first match, against Spain on January 13. FIH, the governing body for international hockey, had set a condition that two host cities must be made available for the World Cup. Following this, Patnaik sanctioned the construction of a brand new hockey stadium in Rourkela in February 2021.

While the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final will be played at the Kalinga Stadium, classification matches will be played at Birsa Munda Stadium.

Patnaik also inaugurated World Cup Village, which has 225 rooms, at the stadium complex. It will house the players and teams’ support staff. Some unique features of the stadium include a connecting tunnel between the dressing room and the adjacent practice pitch, a separate fitness centre, a swimming pool.

This is the fourth time India is hosting the men’s World Cup. The 1982 edition was held in Mumbai while New Delhi hosted it in 2010. The 14th edition was held in Bhubaneswar in 2018.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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