Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced that Odisha will host the men's hockey World League Final 2017 and World Cup 2018, at the Kalinga Stadium here.
With Odisha being the title sponsors of both event, the titles will be named Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar-2017 and Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar-2018.
The World League Final 2017 will be held from December 1 to 10 and the World Cup 2018 will be played from November 28 to December 16, 2018.
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The state government will host both the matches and is committed to provide international facilities for the visiting teams, Patnaik said.
President of FIH (Federation of International Hockey) Dr Narinder D Batra, CEO of Hockey India Elena Norman and other senior officials attended the meeting where Patnaik made the announcement.
The state government will spend around Rs 75 crore for organising the two mega hockey events.
Stating that Odisha has been a nursery for hockey and has produced many talented played of national and international repute, Patnaik said the state has so far contributed three men's team captains and two women's team captains to the Indian hockey team.
"It is not out of place to mention that four Odia women hockey players - Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, Sunita Lakra and Limima Minz - represented India in the Rio Olympics-2016," Patnaik said.
Recently, the Kalinga Lancer hockey team, owned by the Government of Odisha, has become the champion in Hockey India League-2017, he said.
The Chief Minister said the two events will strengthen the place of Bhubaneswar among the finest hockey destinations in the world.
"These mega events will provide exposure to Odia boys and girls to the best teams and hockey players of the world and will inspire them to take up hockey," he said.
"I hope the two events will attract a large number of foreign as well as domestic tourists to Bhubaneswar. We have chalked out a number of infrastructure development projects, which will give a face lift to Bhubaneswar and make it more pleasant for visitors as well as residents," Patnaik said.
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