Bhubaneswar: Barry O’Farrell AO, Australia’s High Commissioner to India accompanied by Rowan Ainsworth, Australian Consul-General in Kolkata and Amy Keough, First Secretary, Australian High Commission on Wednesday visited the Kalinga International Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Former Hockey India Captain and Chairman of Odisha Hockey Promotion Council Dileep Tirkey, Secretary Sports & Youth services Vineel Krishna, Project Director of Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre Rajiv Seth and other senior officials of the Odisha Sports Department interacted with Australian High Commissioner at the multi-purpose stadium.
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The bouquet of High-Performance Centres in multi-sports disciplines within the Kalinga Stadium has become a centre of sports attraction in addition to the iconic Hockey and Athletics Stadium. Especially after the phenomenal performance of the national hockey teams at the Tokyo Olympics, there has been a heightened interest in Odisha’s hockey ecosystem.
O’ Farrell also visited the Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre that trains over 100 boy and girl cadets for the elite level. He interacted with the cadets and coaches following a tour by Rajiv Seth. Thereafter the high commissioner visited the sports science and rehabilitation centre – the Odisha Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centre, where Centre Head Pradeep Pillay demonstrated the biomechanics and the assessment techniques used to assist athletes to better their performances.
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The Hockey High-Performance Centre and Kalinga Hockey Stadium, which has hosted some of the finest international hockey tournaments including the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018 will be again hosting the same in 2023.
