Police heaved a sigh of relief after Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan reached the venue for the opening ceremony amidst high security.

Though a city-based Right-wing group had stepped down from their earlier decision to oppose the superstar following the request from the Men’s Hockey World Cup organisers, the police were not in the mood to take any chance.

The fringe group had earlier threatened to throw black ink on the superstar alleging his movie Asoka of insulting the people of Odisha.

“We have made adequate security arrangement for the superstar from the Biju Patnaik airport in the city to the inauguration venue. We also deployed armed guards around him. Though thousands of people waited on the roads to have a glimpse of him, traffic was regulated to ensure that no one could come close to his convoy,” said a police officer.

The police said that the opening ceremony passed without any glitches expect few skywalks getting jammed during entry of spectators.

The police have also decided to restrict the entry of spectators near the practice ground after few spectators were spotted passing lewd comments to members of a few teams during their practice. The road passing in front of the practice ground is separated by an iron mess. “We don’t want to prevent any fans from watching the players during practice. However, they must not show any obscene gestures to the players,” said another police officer.

The opening match of the tournament will be played between Belgium and Canada on Wednesday in the afternoon while host India will also start their campaign on Wednesday when they will take on South Africa. The police are expecting a full crowd during the India match as all the tickets for the match were sold out long ago.

“The stadium has been sanitised a week ago and we have restricted the entry of people to the stadium. Around 30 platoons of police personnel will be deployed in and around the stadium on the days of hockey match,” said the police officer.

Mo Cycle

The administration did not lose the chance to promote the cycles, launched under launched the Mo Cycle programme, at the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday. The technology driven bicycles were put up at several places inside the stadium. Visitors were also allowed to take free rides.