Hockey India All Praise For Kalinga Stadium

Hockey India All Praise For Kalinga Stadium

With Odisha fast emerging as a sporting powerhouse, it has lapped up laurels from both within the country as well as abroad.

The government’s dedicated efforts to improve the sporting ecosystem in the state have caught the eye of everyone and the jewel in the crown is Kalinga Stadium, the state-of-the-art sporting complex in Bhubaneswar.

Like many others, Hockey India also heaped praises and congratulated the stadium on October 10 for completing a two-year milestone since being refurbished for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. 

Hockey India Officiating President Gyanendro Ningombam said, “Providing the best facilities for our players and fans is our topmost priority and we are always grateful to the Odisha government for sharing this vision. It has been fantastic to see the way the Kalinga Stadium has been appreciated by one and all in the last two years. We are looking forward to organizing many more big tournaments at the Kalinga Stadium in future.”

The stadium has been upgraded with both the practice and main turfs being re-laid with new blue turf as per FIH specifications. The capacity of the main stadium has been increased to 15,000. Two new galleries —on the North and South sides — were added to the iconic venue, making a total of four grandstands that provide an electrifying atmosphere.

The opening of the refurbished Kalinga Stadium was celebrated with an exhibition match between teams of hockey legends Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey on October 10, 2018. 

As part of the refurbishment, Hockey India’s Competitions Department designed and implemented four players’ changing rooms in the stadium. 

Three dedicated goalkeeper equipment rooms were also designed keeping in mind the elaborate kitting that a goalkeeper has and a dedicated changing room for umpires was added as well.

Also, an exclusive lounge for players and officials was constructed, while a dedicated Media Centre, special boxes for VIPs and officials were added to the venue.

Also, a Walk of Champions was created to showcase the World Cup winners starting from 1971 to 2014 dedicated to Men’s Hockey World Champions and the athletes participating in the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. 

Kalinga Stadium has come to be known as one of the best hockey stadiums in the world and it has hosted many top-level tournaments since the World Cup in 2018 such as FIH Men’s Series Finals, FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers (Men and Women) and FIH Hockey Pro League.

Now, with the opening of the Naval Tata Hockey Academy and a number of performance enhancement centres and HPCs. the stadium has morphed into a world-class facility.