High audience turnout, state-of-the-art facilities and capable management makes tournament truly global affair

Jitendra Nath Misra


The Hockey World Cup 2018 has brought together fans from across the world, making it a truly global event. Twitter@sports_odisha

Is the hockey World Cup making an impact globally? Sitting in Bhubaneswar, we can’t be sure. Sundeep Misra, the Odisha government’s media advisor for the World Cup, says over 200 journalists have been accredited, of whom more than 40 are foreigners, and more are due to attend the knockout games. It is difficult to estimate how wide the foreign journalists’ reach is. The FIH has secured television coverage in 194 countries, a 150 per cent increase over 2014. Such statistics do impact a second- tier rising city, because this is the World Cup. Bhubaneswar may not be London, but it's all about the branding.