Bhubaneswar: After successful inspections in Kolkata and Guwahati, a FIFA delegation along with the members of local organising committee led by tournament lead Oliver Vogt visited the Kalinga Stadium here Friday afternoon to ascertain the readiness of the venue for the upcoming U-17 Women’s World Cup.
While Kolkata and Guwahati have already hosted World Cup matches in 2017, Bhubaneswar is the new venue on the block and has been given the provisional clearance only a couple of months back. The delegation will be heading to Ahmedabad next.
“We are very happy to be here because we know that Bhubaneswar is a city which is very passionate about sports. The city has hosted successfully the Men’s Hockey World Cup and now it’s time to shift to football. If it is selected to host the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, I am very confident that it will be a huge success,” Vogt said during the press conference following the inspection.
The stadium has been under renovation for quite some time now with the pitch being re-laid and parts of the infrastructure also being revamped. It is also to be noted that Odisha FC (rebranded form of Delhi Dynamos) also missed out on their first three Indian Super League home matches at the Kalinga Stadium due to renovation.
According to local authorities, the pitch will be ready by December end while the entire renovation work is expected to be completed by February end next year. The first few home matches of Indian Arrows in the I-League have also been shifted to Goa because of the same reason.
“We are very positive. What we can see is that the construction is still going but as I said we are excited to be here. We are still in the inspection phase and have our ideas but nothing has been confirmed yet. What I can say is we are well on schedule,” informed Vogt.
As things stands now, the grass carpet is on place and is in being processed. Repair work is also being carried out on the stadium roof which had been damaged by Cyclone Fani.
Construction work is still on under the VIP gallery and press arena which will have a players’ tunnel and four dressing rooms.
PNN
