The Trophy Tour of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 officially kicked off here on Monday with chief minister Naveen Patnaik handing over the trophy to Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey.
The FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 will be held at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13-29. Sixteen teams will be competing for the prestigious trophy. Odisha is the official sponsor of both the men and women’s hockey teams till 2033.
Wishing the trophy tour a grand success, Naveen said: “I hope the Hockey Men’s World Cup Trophy Tour will build excitement for the World Cup across India. We will be hosting 16 teams and the matches will be played in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.”
The trophy will travel across 13 states and one Union Territory before returning to Odisha on December 25.
In the next 21-days the trophy will journey across West Bengal, Manipur, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
Once back in Odisha, the Hockey Men’s World Cup Trophy will tour across all the districts. The trophy will also visit the 17 blocks of Sundargarh which is famed for being the cradle of hockey. The last leg of the tour will be in Rourkela before returning to Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar where the finals will be played on January 29.
