Bhubaneswar: With Odisha under the grip of hockey world cup fever, a large number of youths pedalled over 300 km from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar to thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for organising the mega event in Sundargarh district, the cradle of hockey in the state.
Rourkela is one of the two venues for the Men’s Hockey World Cup, 2023 where as many as 20 matches will be played at the newly built Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. While welcoming the youths from Sundargarh district, Patnaik lauded their efforts to popularise and promote hockey and sought the cooperation of all for the success of the mega international event in Rourkela, an official release said.
The cyclists were elated as the people of the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district will hold an international event on their soil for the first time in the history. The world’s largest hockey stadium has also come up in Rourkela, where the inaugural match is slated to be held between India and Spain on January 13.
Similarly, another group of enthusiasts led by former legislator Prabhat Tripathy also met the chief minister and thanked him for the decision to organise the opening ceremony of the Hockey World Cup in the historic city of Cuttack on Wednesday.
The chief minister sought cooperation of the people of the millennium city for the success of the event, the CMO statement said.
Meanwhile, keeping in view the inaugural celebrations of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar–Rourkela at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, the district collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani announced half-day holiday in the millennium city.
All state government offices, educational institutions, banks and banking institutions located within Cuttack Municipal Corporation will remain closed in the second half from 1:30 pm on Wednesday to enable people to watch the inaugural ceremony of the Hockey Men’s World Cup-2023.
