Bhubaneswar, Jan 7: The Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre, set-up with a vision to groom the sporting talent in hockey, today opened two new grassroot centres, in Ganjam and Nayagarh districts in Odisha under the Odisha Tata Hockey initiative.

The inauguration event was held virtually today and was graced by Dilip Tirkey (Padma Shri), Ex-Indian Hockey Team Captain and Chairman, Odisha Hockey Promotion Council, R. Vineel Krishna, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Sports and Youth Services Department, Vijay Amruta Kulange, Collector, Ganjam and Poma Tudu Collector, Nayagarh, among others.

The Odisha Tata Hockey Grassroot Center at Ranpur, Nayagarh was inaugurated by Dilip Tirkey while the Chatrapur, Ganjam center was inaugurated by R. Vineel Krishna.

The Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC is striving ahead in leaving its footprint in the hockey playing belts of Odisha through its existing grassroot programme in conjunction with Sports Department, Government of Odisha.

The grassroots programme of the Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC was launched on December 1, 2019 as Odisha Tata Hockey initiative in which the HPC has set up 8 grassroots centres in Sundargarh and 2 in Sambalpur.

Last year, two new grassroots centres were opened in Dhenkanal and Deogarh. With today’s inauguration, the number of Odisha Tata Hockey Grassroot Centers now stands at 14 spread across 6 districts.

Chairman, Odisha Hockey Promotion Council, Dilip Tirkey, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be a part of the launch of the new grassroot centres, Chhatrapur and Ranpur. This has been possible due to the combined efforts of Govt. of Odisha and Tata. In the last few years, Odisha has focused a lot on improving the grassroots hockey structure in the state. It is also the vision of our Hon’ble Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to provide our hockey players the best facilities, so that more number of players from Odisha represent the country. My best wishes to the entire team.”

Commissioner-cum- Secretary, Sports and Youth Services, Govt of Odisha, R. Vineel Krishna, said, “For the holistic development of Hockey, we have to strengthen our grassroots and this program is a step in that direction. This is a great opportunity for every young hockey enthusiast in Odisha and I wish each of them the best for their future.”

Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC has trained 30 grassroot coaches and appointed them at 14 centres to run the programme. All the grassroot coaches are being facilitated to Hockey India Coaching Pathway program in order to attain Coaching Certifications from HI/FIH. So far, 2400 kids have registered under the grassroot programme and they have been receiving hockey training at different centres.