Sports Scenario in Odisha

Sports is an important part of the Odisha culture. The most popular sports of the state are athletics, field hockey, tennis, football, rugby, canoeing, boating, wrestling, etc. Besides these, there are other traditional games in the state such as puchi, khapura dian, rassi tana (rope pulling), gilli danda, hatbika, etc.
Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, is also known as the. Sports Capital of India as it has world class infrastructure for various sporting events. The sporting events in the state are organised by the sports and youth services of the Government of Odisha.

Maior Sports in Odisha

Some of the famous sports which are played in Odisha are asfollows:

Athletics . :

It is one of the major sports in Odisha. These ·sports consist of different games like
running, sprinting, hurdling, etc. The state has produced one of the finest athletes who got the fame at both national and international level. For example, Anuradha Biswal, Dutee Chand, Amiya Kumar Mallick.jauna Murmu, Shabani Nanda and Budhia Singh. The Kalinga Stadium (Bhubaneswar) organised the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championship 2017.

Football

It is one of the major sports in Odisha. Football sport is administered by the Football Association ofOdisha (FAO). The Odisha Women’s Football Team provided many players to the India Women’s National Football team.

The state also has Odisha men’s football team. Important football players from Odisha are Susmita Malik, Rakesh Oram, Supriya Routray, Manisha Panna, Proloy Shah, etc.

Field Hockey

It is the most popular sport of Odisha. The Odisha Government has become the first Government in India which has sponsored a national team of this sport. Odia Hockey Team is the state’s field hockey team. Its home grounds are Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium in Rourkela and Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The Hockey Odisha team has provided many renowned players to Indian Men’s National Field Hockey Team and India Women’s National Field Hockey Team. Important players are Anupa Barla, Binita Toppo, Birendra Lakra, Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, etc.

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