How Hockey World Cup 2023 is overcoming logistical challenges

The two venues for the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup - Bhubaneswar and Rourkela - are almost 300kms apart. This had caused some concerns for travelling teams, but the Indian hockey federation, with help from the government, have gone out of their way to make all visitors feel at home.

It takes over nine hours to commute between the two cities and almost two hours by air.

What poses an even bigger challenge for fans and teams alike is that Rourkela as a city is not as well connected as a Bhubaneswar is to other parts of the country.

With 20 out of the 44 matches of the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup, slated to be held at the newly built Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, several foreign media outlets reported on the logistical challenge at the World Cup.

"It's been a bit of a nightmare. The transport between the venues isn't great. I don't know why the FIH have gone for two venues," a travelling Welsh fan group told The Hockey Paper last month.

The Malaysia hockey team also expressed concern about the travel time between the venues.

Their coach Arul Selvaraj said at a press conference: "At first we wanted to bring additional staff but the Hockey World Cup organisers kept the maximum size of the squads to 30 because planes need to be rented. I am not a fan of that (long travels during tournaments."

Hockey India have gone out of their way to make sure that such logistical challenges do not affect any of the visiting teams.

Chartered flights have been arranged between the two cities to ensure smooth and timely travel for all the teams and players.

Besides for fans, the local government has facilitated Volvo buses to travel from Jharsuguda (the nearest airport to Rourkela) to Rourkela for free.

Moreover, match ticket holders can also enjoy the services of 'Mo Bus' for smooth intra city travel in both Bhubaneswar and Rourkela with the services in latter opened just a week ago.