Stage set for Hockey Men’s World Cup opening ceremony

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Bhubaneswar: Hockey fever has completely gripped the city and the plot has thickened for the grandest stage of the game as the Men’s Hockey World Cup is all set to kick off at the Kalinga Stadium here, Wednesday.
Preparations for the game as well as the stay of visitors during the tournament have been completed. With Malaysia arriving in Sunday night, all 16 teams have reached the City and started their training in full force. The gala opening ceremony is set to amuse a 15,000-strong audience at the Kalinga Stadium, Tuesday evening. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the World Cup while Hindi film stars Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit will be the main attractions of the show.
The inaugural ceremony will showcase a dance ballet ‘The Earth Song’ inspiring people worldwide to erase geographical boundaries and be united. Its production has been created, written and directed by Nupur Mahajan which will see Madhuri Dixit acting as the central character of ‘Mother Earth’. She will be accompanied by 1,100 artistes.
The ‘Earth Song’ unfolds five acts and is a 40-minute performance choreographed by Shiamak Davar while Ranjit Barot has created the original music track. AR Rahman will also cherish the audience with a live performance of the World Cup anthem ‘Jai India’ and other songs.
All the tickets for the inaugural ceremony have been sold out while tickets for India’s matches in the pool stage were sold out within hours of release last week.
Kalinga Stadium has been decorated like a colourful bride with lights and flower plants. The state government has spent nearly Rs 100 crore for renewing the infrastructure. High security arrangement has been made for players and around the stadium. The inaugural match will be played between Belgium and Canada at 5 pm Wednesday. Hosts India will take on South Africa the same day. With 15,000 capacity crowd supporting the hosts, the fans expect that ‘The Men in Blue’ will revel in the home condition.