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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.
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 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.
