Offline sale of tickets for FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup started at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela on Monday.
The craze for hockey at Rourkela and Bhubaneswar has to be seen to be believed. From early in the morning, hundreds of hockey fans were seen making beelines at ticket counters in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
In Bhubaneswar, a ticket counter has been set up at the police reserve ground near gate no-8 of Kalinga Stadium. Similarly, in Rourkela, counters have been opened at gate no-2 and 6 of Birsa Munda Stadium.
The selling of tickets started at 11 am.
“People from nearby areas have thronged the counters to have tickets. We have made all the arrangements like setting up of barricades at the counters,” said Rourkela SP Mukesh K Bhamoo.
It is learnt that tickets for January 13 and 14 are being sold at counters. And on these days, there will be no India match.
“When contacted, officials are saying tickets for India matches have been sold out and are hence not available. They are telling that tickets for January 13 and 14 matches are available. This has put paid to our excitement,” rued a Hockey lover at the counter in Bhubaneswar.
Hockey fans at the counters in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar expressed concern as they are in dark with respect to how many tickets are to be sold offline.
Notably, the tournament is all set to start from January 13 to 29, 2023.
(Reported by Niranjan Reddy from Bhubaneswar and Pawan Tiwari from Rourkela, OTV)