India News | India's Largest Hockey Stadium in Odisha to Be Completed by July 2020
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Odisha government on Wednesday said that the country's largest hockey stadium, currently under construction in Rourkela district of the state, will be completed by July next year.
Rourkela (Odisha), Aug 18 (PTI) The Odisha government on Wednesday said that the country's largest hockey stadium, currently under construction in Rourkela district of the state, will be completed by July next year.
The 20,000-capacity Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, along with the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, will be the venues to host the Men's Hockey World Cup 2023.
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A day after announcing extension of the Odisha government's sponsorship to Indian hockey teams for another 10 years, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sent senior officials to Rourkela to take stock of the stadium's progress of work.
"The construction work of the Bisra Munda Hockey Stadium will be completed by June-July, 2022,” Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra told reporters after reviewing the work.
He said that the Biju Patnaik Indoor Stadium in Rourkela will be made operational soon.
“The CM's office is keeping a close eye on the projects and also the rest of the developmental works,” Mohapatra said.
The chief minister had laid the foundation stone of the Rs 120 crore stadium in February this year.
Patnaik, while felicitating the members of the Indian Men's and Women's teams in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, announced that the state government would continue its sponsorship for the national hockey teams for another 10 years. The state government has been the official sponsor of the Indian Hockey Teams since 2018.
A senior officer of the sports department told PTI that there are other hockey stadiums in the country that claimed to have a capacity of 20,000 but they do not have chairs.
The Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium will have 20,000 chairs for the spectators.
"There is no way to know what's the exact capacity of a stadium without chairs. It's unscientific. The Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi has 16,200 chairs," the official said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)