Bhubaneswar: The 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup will be played here and Rourkela, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced Wednesday.
India will host the Men’s Hockey World Cup for the second consecutive time after the country was picked to stage the game’s showpiece event in 2023 by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) earlier this month. The tournament will be played January 13 to 29.
“We hosted the 2018 World Cup and I would like to announce that the 2023 Hockey World Cup will again be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Are you happy. I am happy,” Patnaik said, while addressing the crowd at the Kalinga Stadium in a brief ceremony.
The ceremony was also attended by International Hockey Federation (FIH) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra, Hockey India (HI) president Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmed, Odisha Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera and other dignitaries.
The Kalinga Stadium will host the game’s showpiece tournament for the second consecutive time after successfully conducting the event in 2018, which was won by Belgium.
Of late, the state capital has hosted some big international sporting events, including the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships, 2017 FIH Hockey World League Final, FIH Men’s Series Finals in 2019 and the recently-concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers.
The state capital is also one of the venues for the 2020 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup.
PNN & Agencies
