Representational photo.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced that India's biggest hockey stadium will come up at Rourkela and the 20,000-capacity facility will host matches of FIH men's World Cup in 2023.
Spread over 15 acres of land, the stadium will be constructed in the Biju Patnaik University of Technology campus.
Announcing this in a video message, Patnaik said, "As we have announced earlier, Odisha will once again be the proud host of the prestigious men's hockey World Cup in 2023."
The tournament will be organised both in capital city Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Sundargarh district.
Many renowned players from the district, such as Dilip Tirkey and Sunita Lakra, have represented the country at the international level.
Popularity of hockey can be seen across the district.
"As a tribute to the contribution of Sundargarh to Indian hockey, I would like to announce that we will build a new international level stadium in Rourkela with a seating capacity of 20,000.
"The stadium will have all the modern amenities and will offer a unique experience. I hope it will emerge as the best venue for field hockey in the World," the CM said.
Recently, a high-level team including senior officials from the state government, International Federation of Hockey (FIH), Department of Sports and Youth Services and Hockey India had visited Rourkela.
They reviewed the infrastructure and allied facilities in the city to host the prestigious event.
The work to develop synthetic hockey turf in each of the 17 blocks of Sundargarh district has already commenced.
