Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the Indian Men's Hockey Team for storming into the Olympic Semis. India will be playing the Olympic semis after 41 years. He watched the entire match along with his principal secretary V K Pandian. Patnaik also tweeted his video.
Expressing his joy over the Indian team's victory over Great Britain, the Chief Minister said that the national team has come out with flying colours in the quarter-final. He expressed hope that the team will keep up the momentum to win both the semis and the Olympic final. It may be mentioned here that Odisha Govt is the sponsor of the Indian Hockey team, both men and women for five years since 2018.
Odisha is the only state that is promoting a national game in the entire country. Odisha is the cradle of hockey and the state government is putting a premium on hockey to help India regain its dominance in global hockey. Both Indian men's hockey and Indian women's hockey teams are entering into Olympic semis and quarters after 41 years respectively.
The Government of Odisha has been supporting the Indian National Teams ( Men/ Women, Senior/ Junior) as the official sponsor since 2018, with the objective of bringing back the glory of Indian hockey. Odisha has an immense contribution to the national game of Hockey and many of its players have represented the Indian team. At present the Vice-Captain in Men’s - Birendra Lakra and Women’s team - Deep Grace Ekka are from Odisha.
Hockey is seen as part of the culture in many parts of the state and the love, people of Odisha have for hockey is reflected in the strong commitment of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the development of Hockey. Odisha is the only state to sponsor any national team.
Odisha in partnership with Hockey India has conducted all the major hockey tournaments in Bhubaneswar including the Men’s World Cup, World League, Pro-League, Olympic qualifiers, etc.
This continuous support ensured stability in the performance of the Indian teams. Both the Men's and Women’s team have performed brilliantly so far in the Olympics. The dream of Indians to again see a medal for Indian hockey in the Olympics is hopefully not too far.
Naveen Patnaik has always promoted hockey and its players. He made Dilip Tirkey Rajya Sabha MP. Tirkey is a former Olympian and captain of the Indian hockey team. Nowadays he is serving as chairman of Odisha tourism development corporation.