Odisha CM Confirms Sponsorship To Indian Hockey Teams For Another 10 Years

Indian Hockey team sponsorship: Naveen Patnaik, the state Chief Minister announced on August 17 that Odisha will sponsor the Indian Hockey teams for another ten years.

Netizens applauded Patnaik's attempt and also said that each state should take sponsorship of some sports to ensure better representation of the same at international championships.

According to news agency ANI, Patnaik said, "Odisha will continue to sponsor Indian hockey teams for another 10 years."

Odisha will continue to sponsor Indian hockey teams for another 10 years, says CM Naveen Patnaik pic.twitter.com/Nub0w4we7M

— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2021

Earlier, Patnaik awarded the Indian Hockey players at the felicitation ceremony. Deep Grace Ekka from Odisha received the best defender award while players Rani Rampal and Navneet Kaur received the best performance award. Gurjit Kaur and Vandana Katariya also received awards for most goals at the ceremony and each was presented Rs 5,00,000 cash award by CM.

According to a report by Orissa Diary, Patnaik said, "Glad to felicitate the Indian Women’s and Men’s Hockey teams after their historic feat in  Tokyo2020."

He added, "Proud of the Hockey Olympians for their achievement. May the remarkable journey inspires many others to embrace sports and bring laurels for the country."

SheThePeople talked to Indian women's hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne after the Olympic bound players presented an excellent match at the Tokyo 2020 games. He said that the best thing about team India is “their fighting spirit.” Even though the team did not win a medal, they sure won millions of hearts.

Speaking about the players' performance and how the journey has been so far since the past four and a half years, Marijne said, "the team really has made steps and now they are in the top 8 of the world."

He added that if the old ranking system is considered, India would have ended in the top 5 in the world. Read the entire interview here.

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