After touring by way of 13 states, one union territory and 30 districts of Odisha, the Hockey World Cup trophy will arrive on the model new Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela on January 13 when India open their marketing campaign towards Spain.
The trendy trophy – engraved in gold and silver with a hockey stick and ball on high of the world – has been obtained with nice fanfare by hundreds of individuals, together with former and present gamers, in each city and district the place it has been paraded prior to now. month.
However, 5 years in the past, when Odisha hosted hockey’s showpiece occasion for the primary time, the trophy brought on hassle for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in addition to the host nation.
Prestigious #HWC2023 The trophy visited a number of historic monuments throughout its tour throughout the nation. Check out superb images of historic significance 🤩#hockeyindia #IndiaKaGame #hockey trophy tour #StarsBecomeLegends @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @media_sai @IndiaSports activities pic.twitter.com/WYZMm897N2
– Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 5, 2023
On Thursday, former FIH, Hockey India and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra revealed that he had threatened the world physique that he would ‘be certain that Indian Customs doesn’t clear the trophy to enter the nation’. Give’.
the explanation? Batra claimed that the world map adorned on the trophy confirmed Jammu and Kashmir as a part of Pakistan.
“After changing into the President of FIH in 2016, I insisted on reform and informed FIH that neither I nor I’ll enable any Indian political chief to current this trophy throughout the 2018 World Cup in India and I Will be certain that the Indian Customs clear the trophy for coming into India with the flawed map,” said Batra, who resigned as president of the IOA and FIH last year. “The trophy was lastly reformatted in 2017 to show solely continents thereafter and nation traces had been eliminated.”
When requested, the FIH confirmed that modifications had been made to the trophy in 2017, however didn’t specify precisely what adjustments had been made.
According to the FIH web site, the trophy for the World Cup – the match which was the brainchild of former Pakistan Hockey Federation president Noor Khan – was conceived and designed by Pakistan in 1971 when the inaugural version was held. The FIH wrote on its web site, “The designer was Bashir Moojid and the actual workmanship was done by members of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Corps of the Pakistan Army.”
The trophy was formally introduced by Pakistan’s ambassador to Belgium to the then FIH President René Frank in Brussels, the place the world physique was headquartered on the time. Decades later, in 2018, Belgium grew to become world champions for the primary time and lifted the trophy – which was allowed within the nation after amendments – on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The Belgians arrived within the Odisha capital on Friday to defend their title.
Pakistan, which gained the inaugural World Cup and has been a powerhouse for many years, has not certified for the 16-team occasion, which will probably be co-hosted in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
