Bhubaneswar and Rourkela to host 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup

India will host the Men’s Hockey WC for the second consecutive time after the country was picked to stage the game’s showpiece event in 2023 by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) earlier this month. 

The tournament will be held from January 13 to 29. “We hosted the 2018 Hockey WC and I would like to announce that the 2023 WC will again be held in Bhubaneswar, and Rourkela. Are you happy? I am happy,” Patnaik said while addressing the crowd at the Kalinga Stadium in a brief ceremony.

The ceremony was also attended by FIH and Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra, Hockey India President Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmed and Odisha Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera, besides other dignitaries.

Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium will host the game’s showpiece tournament for the second consecutive time after successfully conducting the event in 2018, which was won by Belgium.

Besides the 2018 Hockey WC, Bhubaneswar has hosted some big international sporting events of late, including the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships, 2017 FIH Hockey World League Final, 2019 FIH Men’s Series Finals and the recently-concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers. The state capital is also one of the venues for the 2020 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup.