ROURKELA: The cherished dream of citizens of Rourkela to host a major hockey tournament is all set to come true. Sundargarh district is known as the cradle of hockey and its largest city Rourkela along with Bhubaneswar will host Hockey World Cup in 2023. Hockey players and enthusiasts are unanimous in their view that high-profile matches would work wonders in ensuring quantitative and qualitative development of the game while boosting infrastructure growth in the city.
Hockey icon and Chairman of Hockey Promotion Council Dilip Tirkey said it will be a historic opportunity for Rourkela and his home district to host matches of the showpiece event. Thanking Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the opportunity, Tirkey said it would prove to be a force multiplier for further quantitative and qualitative development of hockey in the nursery of Sundargarh as budding hockey trainees and rural players would be highly inspired and encouraged by watching live games.
The Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium of SAIL in November last year had successfully hosted an international exhibition match between South Wales (Australia)-XI and Odisha-XI. He said the stadium needs another astro-turf for warm-up sessions. In-charge and coach of Rourkela-based Panposh Sports Hostel (PSH) AN Bihari said young tribal players of the district never get the opportunity to watch big matches. Watching international players in front of their eyes would inspire them. Bihari said hockey world cup matches would also ensure restoration of air connectivity and speed up Smart City projects while augmenting sports infrastructure.
PSH trainee Filicia Toppo, who last year played a junior international match, said it would be a great opportunity for other inmates of the hostel to watch world cup matches at Rourkela as none can afford to enjoy matches in Bhubaneswar. PSH alone has produced 54 of the 65 junior and senior international players from the district. It has two astro-turf grounds and one grass field but lacks adequate space for construction of big galleries.
The Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium, which houses the SAIL Hockey Academy (SHA) is the only ideal venue and it has adequate space for laying of another astro-turf for practice sessions.SHA coach and former junior international player Peter Tirkey said it would be a great honour and opportunity for the district. He said it would not be an exaggeration to say with renewed focus, it is possible that half of Team India will be represented by players from Sundargarh district.