Field hockey News: As Odisha prepares for Hockey World Cup, CM Patnaik will inaugurate Birsa Munda Stadium
The Sundergarh district of Odisha is the birthplace of hockey. The players have also established a base in Odisha in recent years, thanks to active support and funding from the state government led by CM Naveen Patnaik.
It comes home!Several of you may already be familiar with the fact that in 2018, when both the men's and women's national hockey teams in India had trouble finding sponsors, CM Naveen Patnaik stepped up and opened the state of Odisha's wallet and heart for hockey.
The Odisha government has taken various actions to support hockey and its players since 2018. After nearly 40 years, the Men's and Women's teams advanced to the Olympic Semifinals in Tokyo in 2020, demonstrating the results for all to see.
After a protracted absence of silverware since the Goldens era of Indian hockey, the Men's team finally brought home the bronze medal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A traditional welcome of the New Zealand Hockey team to the World Cup Village at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HockeyIndia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HockeyIndia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndiaKaGame?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndiaKaGame</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HWC2023?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HWC2023</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StarsBecomeLegends?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StarsBecomeLegends</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CMO_Odisha?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CMO_Odisha</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sports_odisha?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sports_odisha</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IndiaSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IndiaSports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Media_SAI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Media_SAI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FIH_Hockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIH_Hockey</a> <a href="https://t.co/R5Md6gWGwb">pic.twitter.com/R5Md6gWGwb</a></p>— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHockeyIndia/status/1611649759558930434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Men's Hockey World Cup will take place in the state from January 13 to January 29. Both the steel city of Rourkela and the capital city of Bhubaneswar have been decorated to host the event.
The Odisha government has built the largest hockey stadium in the world in Rourkela, named in honour of heroic freedom fighter Bhagwan Birsa Munda, to emphasise the state's position on the hockey world map.
Hockey India today shared a proud video of Indian players standing inside the grand stadium, declaring their intent for the FIH Odisha Men's Hockey World Cup "to bring it home".
The mascot of the FIH Odisha Hockey World Cup is "Olly," an endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle that annually travels thousands of miles across the oceans to nest along the Odisha coast.