By
Mansita Mishra
In the past five years, Odisha has consciously set out to use sport and culture as a means of asserting its soft power, gaining recognition on the world stage and improving the lives of its population, while also diversifying its economy.
The year 2023 was an exciting one for Odisha in sports. The state hosted the Hockey World Cup 2023 for the second time, followed by Odisha Badminton Masters. Following the successful hosting of the FIFA U-17 women’s World Cup in 2022, Odisha’s Kalinga Stadium also played host to India’s first two qualifying matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
As Odisha’s sporting ambitions grow, people continue to wonder what’s next? India’s largest state-of-the-art Sports Science Centre at the Kalinga Stadium was recently inaugurated by Odisha’s CM Naveen Patnaik. This centre has been established in partnership with Abhinav Bindra, India’s first individual Olympic gold medallist.
This inclusive facility, designed to cater to athletes across various disciplines, is poised to become a hub for injury management, rehabilitation, recovery, and performance enhancement, catering comprehensively to the needs of sporting talent in the region while also being accessible to India’s elite athletes.
This Sports Science Centre features specialised labs to ensure that athletes receive care and support tailored to their unique needs, cultivating their potential and propelling them towards excellence.
Odisha helped fulfil the All India Football Federation’s long-awaited aspiration to set up a world-class academy, which was launched under the FIFA Talent Development Scheme and inaugurated by Arsene Wenger, the Chief of Global Football Development, FIFA.
The FIFA TDS is a programme aimed at collaborating with different Member Associations across the world to increase the competitiveness of their national teams. The FIFA has also rolled out its Talent Coaching Programme, with which it intends to provide active on-ground support to the Member Associations.
Furthermore, the state government also entered into a strategic partnership with Tata Steel to establish two High-Performance Centres (HPCs) dedicated to Olympic sports – Archery and Sport Climbing.
The collaboration is aimed at fostering the growth and development of athletes in these disciplines, creating an enabling environment for their advancement.
The collaboration between Government of Odisha and Tata Steel in establishing these High-Performance Centres is a testament to the state’s commitment to sports development. It builds upon the successful partnership between the two entities in the form of the Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre, Odisha, which has produced remarkable results.
The establishment of the Archery HPC and the Sport Climbing HPC further solidified Odisha’s position as a major sports hub in the country. The state is already home to state-of-the-art high-performance centres in various sports, including hockey, football, swimming, athletics, gymnastics, sports science, shooting, and weightlifting.
In the 37th National Games Goa, Odisha created history with 6 gold, 10 silver and 18 bronze medals, finishing 13th in the medals’ table. Odisha is also hosting the Super Cup 2023-24, with its growing prominence in Indian football and top-notch facilities making it the prime choice for the tournament. For Odisha Sports, the year 2023 concluded with the second edition of Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack, highlighting Kho-Kho’s popularity in the state. The government is dedicated to ensuring the season’s success and aims to inspire the people of Odisha to actively engage in the sport.
The year 2024 will be monumental for Odisha sport, as the state continues expanding infrastructure, hosting more tournaments and creating new benchmarks for other states to follow and make India a sporting superpower.