Bhubaneswar Readies For A Grand Welcome To Hockey WC Trophy On Christmas Day, To Be Put On Display At SOA

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Capital is in a celebratory mood with FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 slated for next month. Trophy Tour of the quadrennial event, which will see 16 countries including hosts India compete for the title, will arrive in Bhubaneswar on December 25, having travelled across 13 states and one Union Territory, and Patha Utsav is being organised in the morning to celebrate the occasion, giving fans and public a chance to engage with the prestigious trophy before the winning team lifts it on January 29, 2023.

The glittering trophy will also be taken to the campus of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) here on Christmas Day as part of its tour through the city of temples.

The trophy would be received by Vice-Chancellor Ashok Kumar Mahapatra and kept briefly at the university’s new stadium for the students, faculty members and staff members to have a glimpse of the prize and have a feel of the international event, an SOA release said.

A large gathering of students is expected at the venue where NCC cadets would be in attendance. A cultural programme would also be staged to mark the visit of the trophy, it added.

Notably, Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das held a meeting and decided to form groups for welcoming the trophy. “As a host to the international event, every citizen of the city is feeling proud and celebrating the occasion in their own way,” said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange.

This is for the second consecutive time that Odisha is hosting the world hockey championship having done so in 2018 when all matches were played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. This will be the 15th edition of the World Cup and this time the matches would be played at two places—the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the brand-new Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.