Bhubaneswar,November 25: The Hockey fever has reached its zenith with teams continuing to arrive in Bhubaneswar for the mega men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled to start from November 28.
As per latest reports, team Canada, Netherlands, Belgium and Pakistan arrived on Saturday while Germany and Ireland arrived on Sunday at the Biju Patnaik International Airport. Malaysia is the only team which is yet to arrive for the event.
Belgium is grouped with hosts India, Canada, and South Africa in Pool B and will begin their campaign against Canada on November 28.
Commissionerate police have drawn special security measures for the safety of the teams. Moreover, special arrangements have been made for the security of Pakistan players.
“Our first target is to qualify for the quarter finals after facing three teams in the group stages including Germany. I hope the mega event to be exciting and wish all the teams’ good luck for the tournament,” said Pakistan coach, Tauqeer Dar.
Reportedly Pakistan had beaten India in the semi-final of the 2014 Champions trophy held in Bhubaneswar, after which the Pakistan team had shown misbehaviour attitude towards the audiences which then had sparked a controversy.
Similarly Belgium, Netherlands and Canada teams also reached Bhubaneswar last night hoping to make a mark in the tournament.
France player Tom Boon in an interview to OTV sounded confident of a superb show by the team in the upcoming mega tournament in Bhubaneswar.
“We are happy to be here and hope to finish at the podium this time. All the teams in the tournament are very good and we too have a good combination of both youth and experience as well,” said Boon.
Prasanta Patnaik