Bollywood stars, K-Pop performance, and a growing fervour for the sport — the countdown has begun for Odisha’s second successive tryst with the men’s hockey World Cup.

On Tuesday, the eve of the inaugural ceremony in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar residents stood in long queues to sign boards set up to cheer the Indian team. The hosts begin their campaign on Friday, against Spain at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, the largest all-seater hockey stadium in the country.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, a great lover of the game who used to be the goalkeeper of his school hockey team, tweeted: “As hockey comes home to Odisha, we celebrate the spirit of hockey across the nation. With people’s hearts in the nation beating as one for hockey, let’s all cheer for India in one voice. Let the passion for the game spread to billions of hearts.”

The stage is surely set for the passion to spread.

All schools across Odisha will remain closed after 1pm on Wednesday to allow students to watch the inaugural ceremony at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on the TV.

Present on the ground will be members of the participating teams, Bollywood stars Ranveer Singh and Disha Patani, and Black Swan, a K-Pop band.

Patnaik will inaugurate the World Cup with Ranveer and Disha for company. Union ministers will attend too.

“Those unable to watch the ceremony at the stadium can see the live telecast. We have put up LED screens at various locations in the city. We are trying to create a carnival-like atmosphere,” Cuttack mayor Subhash Chandra Singh told The Telegraph.

Of the 44 matches, 20 will be played at the newly built Birsa Munda stadium. The rest of the matches, including the final on January 29, will be held at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.

A group of youths pedalled nearly 450km from Sundergarh — known as the cradle of hockey — to Naveen Nivas, Patnaik’s official residence in Bhubaneswar, to express their gratitude to the chief minister for organising nearly half of the matches in the steel city of Rourkela.

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has also created a 105-foot sand hockey stick, adorned with more than 5,000 sand balls, on the banks of the Mahanadi in Cuttack.

Let the games, errr ceremony, begin.

Sreejesh eyes title

Rourkela: PR Sreejesh is all set to play in his fourth FIH hockey World Cup, and the third on home soil.

The veteran India goalkeeper feels his team can do better than the quarter-final exit in the last edition, and even finish on top of the podium this time.

“In 2018, we couldn’t go into semis. Now, we have one more opportunity to change our fortunes at this mega event. Hopefully we can improve our previous performance and finish on top,” he said.

India play their first match on Friday.

PTI