BHUBANESWAR: Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced that India's biggest hockeystadium will come up at Rourkela and the 20,000-capacity facility will hostmatches of FIH men's World Cup in 2023. Spread over 15 acres of land, thestadium will be constructed in the Biju Patnaik University of Technologycampus.

Announcing this in a videomessage, Patnaik said, "As we have announced earlier, Odisha will onceagain be the proud host of the prestigious men's hockey World Cup in2023."

The tournament will beorganised both in capital city Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Sundargarh district.

Many renowned players fromthe district, such as Dilip Tirkey and Sunita Lakra, have represented thecountry at the international level.

Popularity of hockey canbe seen across the district.

"As a tribute to thecontribution of Sundargarh to Indian hockey, I would like to announce that wewill build a new international level stadium in Rourkela with a seatingcapacity of 20,000.

"The stadium willhave all the modern amenities and will offer a unique experience. I hope itwill emerge as the best venue for field hockey in the World," the CM said.

Recently, a high-levelteam including senior officials from the state government, InternationalFederation of Hockey (FIH), Department of Sports and Youth Services and HockeyIndia had visited Rourkela.

They reviewed theinfrastructure and allied facilities in the city to host the prestigious event.

The work to developsynthetic hockey turf in each of the 17 blocks of Sundargarh district hasalready commenced.

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