OdishaLIVE Bureau
The NSWIS arrives in Bhubaneswar for the first leg of the exhibition match Odisha XI all set to face their competitors ahead of the hockey fever.
The much awaited NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sport) team arrives in Bhubaneswar for the soon to be held first exhibition hockey match. The Sports and Yourth Service Department held a press conference to inaugurate the match between NSWIS and Odisha XI today at the Kalinga athletics stadium, Bhubaneswar.
The conference was graced by Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner, cum Secretary, Sports & Youth Services, where he spoke about the newly renovated state-of-the-art Kalinga Hockey Stadium as well as threw light on the aspects of promoting Odisha as the nation’s sport’s capital. He was accompanied by the Captains and Coaches of both the teams who seemed to be all prepared to showcase an ecstatic hockey match to the people of Odisha.
The matches have been scheduled for the 1st and 4th of November, 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar and the Biju Patnaik stadium, Rourkela respectively. After the main pitches were re-laid with new turf as per the FIH specification at the Kalinga Stadium, renowned players like Dipsan Tirkey, Neelam Sanjeev and Roshan Minz will be seen participating in the match under the captaincy of Amit Rohidas.
Talking about the exhibition match Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner, cum Secretary, Sports & Youth Services, said,”We look forward to an evening of absolute fun as some of the renowned players grace the pitch of the state-of-the-art Kalinga Hockey Stadium for the first time since its recent renovation. This will be quite an interesting warm up for the fans ahead of World Cup fever that has already swept the nation.”
Captain of the NSWIS team, Kurt Lovett,”Odisha is supremely famous for its hockey players, therefore to be able to play a match with Odisha’s local talent is indeed a great opportunity for the team. We look forward to enjoying a tough and interesting match, which I’m sure the fans will enjoy as well.”
The participating teams are Team Odisha and Team NSW. The Odisha team includes Amit Rohidas (Captain), Roshan Minz, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Silanand Lakra, Ashish Topno, Deepak Kerketta, Prasan Tirkey, Tikkei Kujur, Teofil Kujur, Sudhir Ekka, Suman Beck, Abhisek Lakra, Divya Kujur, Johnson Ekka, Pankaj Rajak (Goal Keeper) and Kalu Chaudhry (Coach).
Kurt Lovett (Captain), Ashleigh Thomas, Dylan Martin, Hayden Dillon, Thomas Brown, Samuel Gray, Samuel Mudford, Jake Wigham, Ky Willott, Lain Carr, Rory Walker, Jack Pickering, Thomas Miotto, William Graf and Brent Livermore from team NSW.
 team arrives in Bhubaneswar for the soon to be held first exhibition hockey match. The Sports and Yourth Service Department held a press conference to inaugurate the match between NSWIS and Odisha XI today at the Kalinga athletics stadium, Bhubaneswar.){kind=link}