A 40-foot statue of a hockey player installed in Rourkela during the Men’s Hockey World Cup to promote the cause of hockey collapsed on Sunday afternoon.

The World Cup matches were held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the newly built Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela in January this year. The statue was built with scraps, iron rods and concrete and installed near the Rourkela airport.

Locals alleged that substandard work led to the collapse.

Aurobinda Das, a local scribe, said: “There was no heavy wind or rain reported during the last 24 hours. But today afternoon, we noticed the statue had fallen down. Luckily no one was injured. The iron rods used in the making of the statue were of poor quality. Even the iron angle used in the statue has crumbled.”