World Cup Hockey in Odisha: Offline ticket sales start

BHUVANESWAR: Offline ticket sales for the World Cup Hockey to be held in Odisha next month began on Monday, though fans are disappointed that all tickets for India’s first three matches are sold out.

The matches will be held in Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the newly built Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela between January 13 and 29. Hockey fans, including women, made a beeline at the counters to get tickets from early in the morning. However, they failed to get tickets for India’s matches.

“The man at the counter said tickets only for January 13 and 14 matches are available. However, there will be no India match on those two days. We are told tickets for India matches have been sold out (online),” said C R Mohapatra who came to the Reserve Police Line Ground near Gate no. 8 of the Kalinga Hockey Stadium.

The website selling the tickets showed that passes for India’s matches against Spain, England and Wales on January 13, 15 and 19 respectively are sold out.

However, not everyone is as disappointed as Mohapatra.

“I'm very happy as I will be able to watch a World Cup Hockey match,” said Akhila Dash who purchased a ticket for the match between Argentina and South Africa.

The tickets are sold at a price range between Rs 100 and Rs 500.

Some people came to the ground to redeem their online ticket to get a physical one.

This will be the 15th edition of the Men’s Hockey World Cup. Hockey India hosts the mega tournament for the second time, with the first being in 2018 which was clinched by Belgium.

Out of the total 44 matches, 24 including the final will be played at the Kalinga Stadium while others will be held at the Birsa Munda Stadium.

As many as 20,000 viewers can be accommodated at Birsa Munda Stadium, which is the country’s largest hockey stadium, while the capacity of the Bhubaneswar facility is 15,000, sources said.