The initial presence is good, but tough challenge is ahead for the officials to make it foolproof international standard hockey stadium, said Federation of International Hockey (FIH) Chief Executive Officer Kelly Fairweather when he visited Kalinga Stadium Hockey Complex here on Wednesday.
lot of ground work is going on. We will discuses the matter with concern authority how to make this stadium for the international standard. There is no doubt the existing infrastructure is excellent but it need little bit of renovation. The most important aspect is the arrangement of floodlights and practice field, added Kelly.
Regarding to conduct international matches Kelly said not today but I am sure in future this venue will be the one of the good place for matches, as the airport communication and lot of standard hotels are around the stadium.
The propose of FIH team visiting the stadium is to see the facility to hold Challenger Cup Hockey matches in 2014. They have suggested some renovation like light stand, dressing rooms for players and umpires and a practice ground. Already the ground work has been started we would complete these entire thing in this year itself, said Development Commissioner I Srinivas.
Bhubaneswar is among the top five growing city of our country. It is not only growing but also a planned city having ancient heritage monuments. By organising international matches, the temple city will get a special name in the world of sports. Our tourism would bust up and the important thing is that sports are the event where you can get maximum international visitors. I am confident that in coming year we would host few international matches in this stadium, added Srinivas.
Among others, FIH marketing advisor Mathew Osmon, lokesh Sharma, Hockey India CEO Elena Norman and HIl director Todd Flulds, IDCO CMD Visal Deb, Sports and Youth Services director DV Swami, Bhubaneswar Municipality Commissioner Sanjib Mishra, Khurda District Collector Niranjan Sahu, Hockey Odisha secretary Pratap Satapathy were present.