Paucity of hotel rooms dents 'sports capital' tag for Bhubaneswar

Govt reaches out to companies, asks them to accommodate visitors in their guesthouses

Unavailability of adequate hotel rooms is throwing a spanner in the emergence of Bhubaneswar as the sports capital of the country.

Odisha's capital and number one Smart City, Bhubaneswar, has shown promise as a sports hub, by successfully hosting the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship between July 6-9 last year. Preparations for the tournament were done in a record 90 days, drawing rave reviews from the sports fraternity. And in 2017, the city played host to Men's Hockey World League, held between December 1-10, with teams from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain participating.

More recently, Odisha also