NEW DELHI: The
Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup is just around the corner and the host city of Bhubaneswar is already buzzing with activity. The big-stage festivities in the state capital will kick off with a star-studded Ekamra
Sports Literary Festival
. It's an event that will bring together eminent sports personalities and authors from India and around the world on the same platform.
The two-day festival, which is the first of its kind in Asia, will be held from November 2 to 3 and add to the growing reputation of Bhubaneswar as one of India's leading destinations for international sports events both on and off the field.
The speakers at the festival will comprise the likes of Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), Jeff Thomson (cricket), Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey (hockey), Stephanie Rice (swimming) and
Ric Charlesworth
(hockey) among the former international stars. Leading the list of active athletes will be India's javelin star
Neeraj Chopra, wrestler
Vinesh Phogat, cricketer
Ajinkya Rahane and gymnast Dipa Karmakar.
Also present on the dais during the event will be former Canadian sprinter
Ben Johnson, Indian cricketer turned author and commentator Aakash Chopra along with another former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, journalist-authors Andrew Downie and Richard Moore and Vasudev Bhaskaran, captain of India's 1980 Moscow Olympics gold-medal winning hockey team.
Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, will inaugurate the festival.
The event will serve as the perfect precursor to the
hockey World Cup
scheduled to be held from November 28 to December 16. Bhubaneswar has, in the past, successfully hosted two other major FIH events, the Champions Trophy (2014) and Hockey World League Finals (2017).
The state government has spent close to Rs. 100 crore to get the city ready for this big-ticket event. The
Kalinga Stadium
, which will host the matches, has also been extensively refurbished ahead of the World Cup. The Kalinga Sports complex also hosted the Asian Athletics Championships in 2017.
Odisha recently pledged its support to hockey by becoming the official sponsors of both the men's and women's teams, which is the first instance of a state sponsoring a national team.