By IANS,
New Delhi: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) chief Leandro Negre is happy with the way work is progressing for the next month’s World Cup.
Negre, who visited the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium along with Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi, said it is one of the best in the world.
“This is an important year for hockey. We have two World Cups, the men’s here in India and then the women’s in Argentina. We are spending a lot of time to make both events a success,” Negre told reporters here Tuesday.
“We had concerns that things were not moving in the right path here. But now we are very happy with the way everything has been paced up. The stadium is beautiful and it is going to be one of the best in the world.”
The mega-event would be held in New Delhi from February 28 to March 13.
Kalmadi hoped the Indian team will perform well on home turf.
“The Indian team can start training in the stadium in the first or second week of next month.”
The four-nation tournament to test the facilities has already been cancelled. The FIH president said a test event was not mandatory before the World Cup.
“It is not mandatory but we wanted to test the new stadium. A few matches could be played here before the World Cup,” Negre said.