Hockey takes over campuses

Bhubaneswar: Most of the university and college campuses in Odisha organised fun-filled activities and watched the glittering opening ceremony of men’s hockey World Cup on giant screens on Wednesday.
Teachers and staff of the respective institutions along with students enjoyed the opening ceremony on the big screens on the campus. The universities and colleges across the state put up big screens and projectors to watch the ceremony live. Educational institutions were granted a half-day holiday for the opening ceremony.
Utkal University Bhubaneswar organised the programme at the Sports Council building. Hockey World Cup mascot Olly’s cutout was erected at the council during this programme.
The students shouted and whistled while watching performances of actors from Bollywood and Odisha cinema industry, music director Pritam and singers from Bollywood. Some of them also danced to the tunes of the Bollywood numbers and K-Pop girl band Blackswan.
Sigma Patra, MSc second-year student of Utkal University, said the sports council has made arrangements for watching the opening ceremony of the World Cup on a big screen. “We are happy and excited to watch this beautiful moment. We thank the government for arranging this for us,” she added. Another PG second-year student, Ashish Mohapatra, said they are happy for this international tournament being organised by the Odisha government. “We are enjoying the event and hope the government organises similar events in the future,” he added.
Fakir Mohan University Balasore put up a giant screen on its Nuapadhi campus. University vice-chancellor Santosh Kumar Tripathy was also present among students. Mansi Moharana, second-year PG student at Fakir Mohan University Balasore, said, “This World Cup hockey tournament will really popularise the game among the youths of Odisha in particular and the entire country in general.”