India News | Odisha Assembly Passes Resolution to Congratulate Indian Hockey Teams

Bhubaneswar, Sep 7 (PTI) The Odisha assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution unanimously to extend congratulations to the Indian women's and men's hockey teams for their historic performance at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The resolution moved by Sports and Youth Affairs Minister T K Behera was passed with all parties supporting it.

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“The resolution is passed unanimously,” Speaker S N Patro said.

The Indian men's hockey team rewrote history as it secured an Olympic medal after 41 years, beating Germany 5-4 to clinch the bronze in a play-off match.

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The women's team too created history and surpassed all expectations by entering the semifinals of the Games for the first time. They, however, lost 3-4 to Great Britain in a hard-fought bronze play-off.

While moving the resolution, the minister said the Indian Men's team has shown great resilience, skill and fitness and won an Olympic medal after 41 years.

Similarly, the performance of the Indian women's team was beyond all expectations and the players showed great fighting spirit. Though they could not win a medal, they won the heart of the nation, Behera said.

The minister said the game brought together the whole country and made Indians across the world feel proud of the achievement in Tokyo.

“On behalf of the House, I extend my greetings and congratulations to the Indian women's and men's hockey teams for their historic successes at the Tokyo Olympics and wish them more glories and laurels in the coming days,” he said.

The minister also said that it is a matter of pride that Odisha has been recognised as the force behind the success of the Indian teams. Never before in the history of the state, Odisha was praised so much across the country, he said.

The Odisha government is the official sponsor of the national hockey teams, both men and women, since 2018.

“It's the result of the vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to support the revival of hockey in India. The strategic decision of the Chief Minister to partner with Hockey India and sponsor the Indian Teams and organise all major tournaments in Odisha including the Hockey World Cup 2018, led to this great success for the country,” Behera said.

Odisha will continue to support the development of hockey in India, the minister said.

“We are organising the Men's Hockey World Cup in January 2023 and India's largest Hockey Stadium is being built in Rourkela for the mega event. We are investing in grass root-level hockey training centres. A high performance centre has been established in Kalinga Stadium. Many boys and girls from Odisha will represent the country in the coming years,” he 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)