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Hockey World Cup 2018: Organisers take measures to prevent stomach bug issues

Bhubaneswar | By
Nov 24, 2018 04:32 PM IST

The Odisha government does not want to take any chances and has taken pre-emptive measures to make sure there is no encore of the Hockey World League Final at the World Cup.

Almost a year back, the hospitality sector here had come under serious scrutiny during the Hockey World League Final when players from many participating countries fell ill due to stomach bugs.

That resulted in teams like Germany, Netherlands and England, among others, fielding depleted sides for some matches as their players were unwell.

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With their bench strength weakened due to illness, the title eventually went to world champions Australia, with Olympic gold medallists Argentina and hosts India taking silver and bronze, respectively.

The Odisha government, however, does not want to take any chances this time around and has taken pre-emptive measures to make sure there is no encore of that episode during the 16-team World Cup, to be held at the Kalinga Stadium from November 28 to December 16.

“This time what we have done is conducted workshops with all the chefs and food and beverages staff,” said Vishal Dev, commissioner-cum-secretary of Odisha’s sports and youth services department.

“People from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and our own team from the commissioner of food safety conducted these orientation workshops about hygiene and sanitation in association with hotel management institutes and others.”

Tickets sold out

Dev, who is also the commissioner-cum-secretary of the tourism department, said that tickets for the quadrennial event have more or less been sold out.

“The response has been overwhelming; by and large the tickets have all been sold out. India matches were sold out pretty early. For other games, the response has been pretty good and there are very few tickets left,” he said.

Unlike the tournament, there will no passes for the November 27 opening ceremony, which will also feature Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and music maestro AR Rahman. Every seat in the stadium will be ticketed.

First aid

The organisers will also set up first aid centres in the 15,000-capacity Kalinga Stadium during the World Cup for spectators. All four stands will have a centre each.

World Cup replicas

To promote the tournament in the rest of the country, a replica of the World Cup will be kept in each of the major airports of the country.

Meanwhile, in Bhubaneswar, more hoardings and flagpoles will come up and the airport will also be decked up for promotional purposes.

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