Bhubnaeswar: The national camp of the Indian hockey team ahead of the Men's Hockey World Cup here will begin at the Kalinga Stadium from Sunday.

The 25-member core group, which will arrive in the city on Sunday, will train at the stadium for a month before leaving the city for the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy from October 18 in Muscat, Oman.

Former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey said the camp would help the players get acclimatised with the conditions.

"Both the turfs at the stadium have been newly laid and the camp will give an edge to the hosts. We are hopeful of India performing well in the world cup," said Tirkey.

Tirkey also said support of the home crowd would be another advantage for the Indian team.

"The home crowd stood behind the Indian team during the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in 2014. Fans had packed the stadium for all matches of the Indian team."

Sixteen teams will play 36 matches during the tournament from November 28 to december 16. While the opening match of the tournament will be played between Belgium and Canada on the opening day, the hosts will start their campaign later in the day against South Africa. India will play their next two pool matches against Belgium and Canada on December 2 and December 8, respectively.

The state government has also decided to intensify publicity campaigns in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sydney (Australia), Zurich (Switzerland) and Amsterdam (Netherlands) for the world cup. A dports official said the campaign in the four cities was likely to begin from the last week of this month.

Earlier, the government had launched a similar campaign in London and Fremont, California.

The government has also decided to include 16 Indian cities such as Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Mumbai, Bhopal and Imphal for the campaign.