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India's biggest hockey stadium, with a seating capacity of 20,000, will be constructed in Rourkela city, Odisha's chief minister Naveen Patnaik has announced. This stadium will host matches of the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup in 2023.
The new stadium in Rourkela will get constructed in the Biju Patnaik University of Technology Campus on over 15 acres of land. The 2023 edition of FIH Men's Hockey World Cup will return to Odisha for a second consecutive time and will be played in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Sundargarh district.
Hope it will be the best venue for field hockey in the world: Naveen Patnaik
Odisha had also hosted the 2018 edition of the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup. It will be the first time that the same state of the same country would be hosting the successive editions of the tournament. CM Naveen Patnaik made the announcement through a video message.
“As we have announced earlier, Odisha will once again be the proud host of the prestigious men’s hockey World Cup in 2023.”
Rourkela, which lies in the Sundargarh district, is known as the nursery of hockey. It has given many international hockey stars, including former Indian captain Dilip Tirkey and Sunita Lakra.
The stadium will be constructed as per the FIH standards with floodlights, enhanced seating capacity, rooms for players and officials, and a parking space. The steel city Rourkela would also be getting a makeover before the quadrennial event.
“As a tribute to the contribution of Sundargarh to Indian hockey, I would like to announce that we will build a new international level stadium in Rourkela with a seating capacity of 20,000," said CM Patnaik.
The Odisha CM expressed that this newly-constructed stadium will offer a unique experience and said that he hopes that it turns out to be the best hockey stadium in the world.
“The stadium will have all the modern amenities and will offer a unique experience. I hope it will emerge as the best venue for field hockey in the World,” he added.
With the 2023 World Cup expected to be much larger than the 2018 World Cup edition, the city of Rourkela will go through an up-gradation as the construction work of the new stadium has already commenced.
