Dr. NARINDER DHRUV BATRA, PRESIDENT (FIH), STATES THAT KALINGA CAN BECOME ONE OF THE TOP FIVE STADIUMS IN THE WORLD

Bhubaneswar, Friday, 16th November 2018: The meeting of the Governing Body for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 was held at the State Secretariat today in Bhubaneswar. Chaired by Mr. Chandra Sarathi Behra, Hon’ble Minister, Sports & YS Dept, Govt. of Odisha, the meeting was briefed by Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Sports and Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha. The Secretary informed the members on the arrangements for the World Cup, in detail.
Some important discussions that emerged from the meeting were about the execution of the opening ceremony, matches and also about the city festival.
Dr. Narinder Dhruv Batra, President, International Hockey Federation (FIH), in his address, thanked everyone for their support and stated that Kalinga can become one of the top five stadiums in the world. He even termed Odisha as the “sports capital of India” and expressed his confidence that this edition of Hockey World Cup will be a landmark event.
Hockey India has made all efforts for a grand opening ceremony on 27th November 2018 in Kalinga Athletics Stadium. The seating capacity in the Kalinga Athletic stadium for opening ceremony is less than 10,000 due to the stage related arrangements. Tickets for public sale will be ONLY be able for purchase on Online at www.ticketgenie.in. No physical sale of the tickets will be done at the outlets and the the organisers will ensure that the public will be notified with sufficient time before the sale starts. Further, there will be NO Pass system and all have to purchase the tickets from the official ticket operator.

FIH has obligations with respect to sponsors, teams, officials, delegates, etc and therefore, in view of the public demand for the opening ceremony, Hockey India has extended the World Cup celebrations to Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on 28th November 2018. The Music Maestro A R Rahman will be performing both on the opening ceremony day, 27th November 2018, in Kalinga Athletics Stadium, Bhubaneswar, and also on 28th November 2018 in Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. Some prominent Bollywood celebrities may also attend the celebrations in Cuttack.
Bhubaneswar will also witness a city festival during the course of the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. Dance and Music Festival, Art Trail, Storytelling festival, Food festival and other such entertaining activities will be available for people to indulge in was also discussed at length during the meeting.
Chief Secretary Sh Aditya Prasad Padhi directed that all the arrangements should be smooth. The Traffic, public transport and parking related arrangements were also discussed.
Mr. Chandra Sarathi Behera, Minister, Sports & YS Dept., Govt. of Odisha, expressed satisfaction over the arrangements and hoped that the World Cup will be a memorable one for everyone.
The Governing Body meeting was also attended by Shri R Balakrishnan, IAS, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sharma, IPS D.G. & I.G. OF POLICE, ODISHA, Tuhin Kanth Pandey, ACS Finance, Ms Elena Norman, CEO Hockey India, Satyajit Mohanty, Commissioner of Police and other senior officials.