Bhubaneswar: The impossible has been made possible. The world’s largest fully-seated hockey stadium has been built in Odisha in a record time. The Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela has found its place in the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s largest seated Hockey stadium. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was honoured with the certificate of recognition from Guinness Book of World Records for the achievement.
Receiving the award the Chief Minister said, “This recognition by Guinness Book of World Records is a testament that our state Odisha has come a long way and has made a mark in the international sports map. It is a matter of great pride for all of us and I thank everyone who was part of this project, to the people of Sundargarh and the hockey fans for their unconditional support to the sport. It inspired us to accomplish this herculean task. I dedicate this recognition to the people of Odisha”.
With this glorious recognition, Odisha has demonstrated that where there is a will to do something big there is always a success bigger than life. Odisha has scripted history by completing the construction of the World’s Largest Hockey Stadium in just 15 months. From scratch to the greatest construction marvel of modern times, the Birsa Munda stadium has found a place in the golden history books. But as a first recognition to the efforts of the Government of Odisha led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, it has found a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Birsa Munda Stadium is an outcome of the Government of Odisha‘s commitment for Hockey and its development. Conceived just one and half year back, the stadium today boasts Odisha’s prowess in building world class sports infrastructure and facilities. The Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela will be the citadel of Indian Hockey in the coming days and would be an example of Odisha’s grate efforts for resurrecting Hockey.
The story of the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium sprouts when the International Hockey Federation chooses Odisha as the venue for the 2023 Hockey World Cup and calls the Government of Odisha for a second venue along with Bhubaneswar. Sundargarh being the cradle of Indian Hockey was the best choice for the government and Rourkela – the Smart City had no competitors to this. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik immediately announced that the Government of Odisha will build the World’s largest Hockey Stadium in Rourkela which will host the World Cup Hockey 2013. The announcement came in December 2020 when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that a world Class Stadium will be constructed in Rourkela that will be ready for the Hockey World Cup. In January 2021, the place was identified at the Biju Patnaik University of Technology premises.
On 16th February 2021, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the World’s Largest Hockey Stadium of India that will be built with an expenditure of more than Rs 400 crore on an area of more than 35 acres of land. The work for the stadium started in the middle of 2021. With the Covid Pandemic just getting vanished and normalcy slowly returning to all activities, Odisha took up the biggest construction works of the time. Some of the best planners of the country with guidance of international experts the designs was finalized to make it a unique stadium in the world. More than 1000 people worked round the clock for fifteen months to make it happen. About 4000 tonnes of TMT steel and 3600 tonnes of structural steel was used in building the structure of the stadium. It became a construction masterpiece in whole of India and one of the best sports infrastructures of the world. In January 2023, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium.
The Birsa Munda Stadium is the largest all seating Hockey stadium of the world. Its games village with modern rest rooms are managed by the Taj Group. It has ultra modern practice centers, gymnasiums, swimming pools, field turf. The modern construction masterpiece has already won rave reviews including the National Geographic Channel and other international media.
The prestigious recognition by the Guinness Book of World Records for the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium is an acknowledgement for Odisha’s commitment. The men behind the project for making it a possibility deserve all the appreciation. Starting from the beginning Sports Department led by Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian, the district administration especially the then Rourkela Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dibya Jyoti Parida, the then Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, Secretary Sports and Youth Services, Odisha R Vineel Krishna all played an important role in bringing alive the Chief Minister’s dream project. The dream project was closely monitored by none other than 5T Secretary VK Pandian, who toiled day and night from day one and made it successful. Due to his inclination towards development of sports in the state, Pandian took personal interest in the development of the stadium and constantly reviewed the works related to it. In the last two years, he has made numerours visits to the ground at Rourkela to oversee the works and see that the construction works complete on time. and the result is that today, the stadium has been completed in a record time of fifteen months and the world cup matches have been played successfully. The thousands of sportspersons and delegates who came to the stadium have appreciated the works and hailed that impossible has been made possible by Odisha.
The recognition to the Stadium by the Guinness Book Of World Records is an eye opener for the naysayers who doubted the efforts of the government and raised questions over its capacity. This is a moment to reckon with for them. The development Odisha is making in the sports and other sectors is the outcome of the blue print Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has for its people. The Birsa Munda stadium today stands tall as the man envisioned it stays in the hearts of its four and half crore people of Odisha.