German-based Polytan company has supplied the synthetic turf at a cost of US$ 4,48,000. The Union Government has provided Rs 5 crores for the surface, under Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme. Expression of interest has been invited for installation of floodlights. While Polytan laid the artificial surface, Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha constructed the stadium. The floodlighting work has also been entrusted to IDCO. Another synthetic turf for practice purpose will be added to the hockey stadium in the near future.
The proposed hockey academy has the plan to groom 64 promising talents, including 32 girls. Dormitories for the players and support staff along with dressing rooms for international matches are waiting to be used. Negotiations are going on with Tata Steel to sponsor hockey academy. Earlier, Tata Steel evinced interest to set up a hockey academy of their own in Bhubaneswar.
The inauguration of the hockey stadium now depends on international schedule. ``The plan is to inaugurate the stadium with an international match, involving India. Efforts are being made to fix a convenient date. Anyway, inaugurate is not far away,`` said Tirkey, now a Rajya Sabha Member.
Hockey stadium is a part of the Sports Academy Project, the foundation stone of which was laid by CM Naveen Patnaik in June 2006. The Rs 20 crore worth project also had provision for an academy in athletics. Taking seven years to complete the hockey portion of the overall project, the state government may have drawn a bit of flak, but the hockey fraternity feels that it is better late than never.
Now the major task for the government is to create a system for fruitful use and proper maintenance of the hockey stadium. According to former India captain Tirkey, a committee, comprising hockey players, coaches, administrators, sponsors and eminent persons from other fields will be constituted for the smooth management of the infrastructure facility. ``A clear picture will emerge after negotiations with Tata Steel take a final shape,`` said Tirkey, once the highest-capped international of the game.
But Hockey Odisha secretary Pratap Satpathy is of the opinion that in order to set up and run the proposed hockey academy state government should not hand over stadium completely to Tata Steel. ``I welcome the involvement of Tata in the project, but only as sponsors. The state government has spent a lot of money for the stadium and it should provide maximum benefit to our state. But that will not be possible if the stadium is put under the absolute control of Tata,`` he explained.
However, Satpathy agreed that the Bhubaneswar hockey stadium has created ideal opportunity for Odisha to host international matches, Hockey India League games and national camps. ``It will also help hockey, which is hither to confined mostly to Sundargarh district, gain popularity in other parts of the state,`` he signed off.
SYNTHETIC SURFACES IN ODISHA: Bhubaneswar Hockey Stadium is the second of its kind in Odisha equipped with synthetic turf, the first one being the Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium at Rourkela. But the BPH Stadium, owned by Rourkela Steel Plant, is not capable of staging international matches as it does not have floodlights.
As regards synthetic surface, Odisha now has five of it at three places and three of these are meant for practice only. Two such surfaces, including a new one, belong to Government Sports Hostel at Panposh in Rourkela and the third one is located at SAI Training Centre in Sundargarh. The first one at Panposh hostel lasted nearly 14 years, producing around 20 internationals before it was replaced in 2006-07. The second one, laid adjacent to the first by Polytan, is scheduled to be unveiled soon.
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TOP: A view of the pink and blue synthetic turf at the hockey stadium in Bhubaneswar.
RIGHT: Olympian Dilip Tirkey examines the quality of the synthetic surface in Bhubaneswar on July 1, 2013.