Living life king size: Tribune India

Tribune News Service

Indervir Grewal

Rourkela, 16th January

A five-minute walk from the main stadium, past the training ground, takes one to the World Cup Village. The village consists of four blocks and is a gated building in a large stadium complex, which also has unfinished multi-story residential buildings.

The teams and employees are located in three blocks with a total of 225 rooms. The fourth block has recreation facilities with table tennis and pool tables, one gym, three restaurants and a cafe that has become a favorite among visitors. The cafe offers a variety of products such as sandwiches, croissants, muffins, coffee, juices and carbonated drinks, but the guests’ “favorite” is the pain au chocolat – a pastry similar to a croissant and filled with chocolate, said the attendant. “We have all been very impressed with the facilities,” said Chilean Axel Troncoso.

However, questions arise about how the facilities will be used after the World Cup. Given its proximity to the new airport, would the village be leased to a hotel? However, this possibility seems unlikely, especially as the FIH president said that the Odisha government wants to host more tournaments here.

Return center

The intention is to turn Birsa Munda Stadium into a high performance center, a recovery center has been established next to the training ground. The center has a gym and other facilities, such as a sauna and an ice bath.

In fact, even the team locker rooms in the main stadium have ice baths. The stadium has four team locker rooms and a separate room where all 32 goalkeepers can leave their equipment.