Odisha CM interacts with Indian hockey teams

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21 Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday met the Indian Hockey teams (Men and Women) at the Hockey Stadium and enquired about their stay and practice facilities.

The players expressed their gratitude for the support the CM has extended for the development of hockey. Naveen wished them good luck for the upcoming Pro League matches and assured them all support and hoped that they will aim to get the medals for the country in the Asian and Commonwealth Games this year.

The Odisha Chief Minister, earlier in the day visited the project site of India's first indoor athletic stadium in Kalinga Stadium complex here.

He reviewed the project progress and inspected the work site and expressed satisfaction over the progress. He also visited other project sites at the stadium complex. Patnaik, who used to wear kurta and pajamas, was seen wearing a tracksuit (white T-shirt and black pants).

"I have visited all the project sites at the Kalinga Stadium today. We will have a number of new sites including an indoor athletics stadium, which will be the first of its kind in India," Patnaik said.

This indoor athletic facility will be a major boost for the development of athletics in India and will become the hub to create champions in coming years, he said.

The indoor athletic stadium is being built in Kalinga Stadium at a cost of Rs 120 crore and will be ready during the year 2022. This is the first indoor athletics in India and will help the athletes practice throughout the year, officials said.

The facility can host national and international indoor athletic events. There will be a residential facility for more than 100 athletes for full time coaching.

Later, the Chief Minister visited the tennis centre project. The centre court of the tennis centre is being constructed for hosting the National and international events. The center will have all facilities to conduct the ITF tournaments, Davis Cup etc.

The indoor athletic stadium and the tennis Centre are both part of the State sports infrastructure development project which aims at transformative changes in the sports sector in Odisha, under the 5T initiative of the State government, the officials said.

Over Rs 300 crore worth of projects are under execution in the Kalinga Stadium including the indoor athletics stadium, indoor aquatics stadium, tennis centre, staff accommodation and hockey HPC building.

Thereafter, the Chief Minister watched the football match of the ongoing Odisha Women's Football League at the main football field of the stadium. He interacted with the women footballers and assured them all support for their football career.