On August 13, 2019, chief minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Naval Tata Hockey Academy (NTHA) at the Kalinga stadium, in the state capital Bhubaneswar, as a move to bring more sports talents and young Olympians from the state. The academy is named in the honour of Naval H. Tata to commemorate his contribution to hockey in India and his achievements as a sports administrator.
Key points
- The NTHA was inaugurated in presence of Tata Steel CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and MD (Managing Director)T.V. Narendran.
- Further, about 10-20 grassroots Centres will initially be inaugurated in Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts of Odisha.
- The talented sportsperson from grassroots centres and Research and Development Centre (RDC) will be provided with career opportunities as trainers and coordinators and also be recommended for admission in the sports hostels.
- NTHA was opened as three-pronged Tata Odisha Hockey programme, a joint initiative of Tata Steel, Tata Trust and govt. of Odisha. The State Government will facilitate infrastructural support and Tata Trust will provide coaching and technical support.
NTHA operations:
The NTHA Odisha will be operated in existing infrastructure that was set up to host the Men’s hockey World Cup in 2018 (winners-Belgium, runners-Netherlands) in Bhubaneswar.
Programme partners:
The partners in the programme will be Bovelander Hockey Academy of Netherlands founded by European Champion, and, World champion and three-time Olympian, Floris Jan Bovelander.
About Odisha
♦Â Constituency of cm Naveen Patnaik- Hinjly,Odisha. (He contested in the 2019 lok sabha elections from Hinjly well as Bijepur and won in both Constituencies. But later resigned from Bijepur on June 2,2019).
♦Â Governor- Ganeshi Lal.
♦Â Famous temples- Jagannath temple, Brahmeswara temple, Lingaraj temple, Konark sun temple.