Odisha invests Rs 2,500 crore in sports facilities, ties up with Reliance, Tatas

Representative image.

Odisha, the state that hosted the Hockey Men's World Cup last month for the second time, is gearing up for more international tournaments and is investing Rs 2,500 crore on sports facilities in collaboration with corporate groups such as Reliance and the Tatas.

The state is now looking to host Hockey Pro League India, which will involve players from Australia and Germany. Rourkela and Bhubaneswar are the two venues in the state for the league matches scheduled in October.

“We are in talks to bring continental championships in tennis and weightlifting to India. We will have a good number of international events in the latter half of 2023,” said Vineel Krishna, commissioner-secretary, sports and youth services department of the government of Odisha.

Odisha has become a hub of hockey and is also looking to develop other sports in the state.

“We are investing in athletic tracks, swimming pools, football training places, constructing 90 indoor stadiums in urban areas and other regional and district-level projects. The investment will be close to Rs 2,500 crore. Some of these projects are about to be completed and more projects are being taken up. Kalinga stadium is going to have India's first indoor athletic track, and a badminton academy is going to be launched,” Krishna said.

Water sports

He said 11 high-performance centres are being built, some in collaboration with companies.

“Most of these centres are up and running. Plus, we are about to sign 3-4 MOUs with some corporates. Currently, we do not have any high-performance centres for gymnastics. So, we are in talks about that with a company. Similarly, for water sports like kayaking and canoeing, we are working on the same model," he said.

Krishna said under the partnership model, the state invests in building the infrastructure while the companies bring in the coaching facility.

“For hockey, we are partnering with Tata Steel and Tata Trusts, which are involved in 25 training centres. We build the centres and Tata deploys the coaches. For athletics, we are in partnership with Reliance Foundation Youth Sports. Corporates are also investing substantially in sports,” he said.

The state is building 25 hockey training centres.

“Some of them are operational. These are synthetic artificial turfs constructed at the grassroots level. Investment of over Rs 200 crore was designated to build those centres,” he said.

The World Cup hockey tournament held last month had two venues.

“Organising the hockey World Cup for the second time after 2018, we wanted it to be on a larger scale. So, it was not confined to Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar as we also had the Rourkela stadium, which has a capacity of over 20,000 spectators,” he said.

Krishna said over Rs 300 crore was spent to build the Rourkela stadium.

“Rourkela is the heartland of hockey, so we built a stadium there. For the classification matches after the quarterfinals were over, we weren't expecting much crowd. But it was housefull most days," he said.

Odisha has certainly taken up the mandate of developing hockey, said Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey. "When Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that each state must adopt an Olympic sport, Odisha took up the onus of developing hockey. Also, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is a keen lover of hockey and it was his dream to build the biggest hockey stadium in the world in Rourkela, a region which has produced a number of international hockey stars," he said.

Tirkey added that the Hockey World Cup saw strong interest from brands and private sector for sponsorships. "The results at the Olympic Games were a big catalyst in bringing in more commercials interest into the sport," he said.