Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: Host India's failure to shine in its two group matches at the Champions Trophy has not dampened the spirit of the youths, especially the city students.

The Kalinga Stadium has become a perfect hangout place for youths with hundreds of them thronging at the venue during the day and evening matches. While most of the youths expressed disappointment over the performance of the Team India at the tournament, they applauded the performance of other teams, especially Belgium.

The high-tension match between England and Belgium today witnessed swing of moods among the youths. Though the match was a tie, the youths cheered every movement of the game.

At the end, a number of youths, especially young girls, cheered for Belgium player Tom Boon, who waved his hand at the audience. The player also signed a few autographs for them.

'India might not have played well, but the tournament has attracted us as this is the first international hockey event hosted by the Kalinga Stadium. Though I had watched a few matches of second edition of Hockey India League (HIL) at the stadium, Champions Trophy matches involving individual countries is much more exciting,' said Rashmi Samal, an engineering student of the city.

Beside watching matches, the youths are also enjoying the picturesque view of the stadium, which has been given a new look for the tournament.

Most of them can be spotted taking photographs of each other with mobile phones having the pink-blue turf as the background. Many youths have been also bunking their classes to watch hockey matches.

'No one knows when another international hockey event will be hosted at the stadium. So we do not want to miss this opportunity, though some of us were forced to bunk classes at our college,' said another college going student, requesting anonymity.

The group matches of the tournament concluded today and the quarterfinals will be held on December 11.

Officials of the state sports department said that so far the crowd during group matches was beyond expectation.

'We are optimistic that the stadium will remain packed to capacity during the quarterfinals and the remaining matches,' said an official.