Preparations under way at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: A new synthetic turf has been laid at the Kalinga Sports Complex, which is all set to host the prestigious Champions Trophy. The eight-nation tournament will commence on December 6 and India stands a fair chance to win the trophy.

Labosport officials, who have been authorised by the Federation of International Hockey (FIH), visited the stadium for inspection today. The final will be played on December 14. The French company officials expressed their satisfaction over the preparations. They visited the same stadium in October 2013 when it hosted the second edition of the Hockey India League (HIL).

“The ground has been maintained properly. As per FIH guidelines, ground certification is mandatory before all international tournaments. We have inspected the main ground and felt that the lighting arrangements and water sprinklers is at par with international standards,” said Phil Keeley, a senior consultant at Labosport. The officials would inspect the line mark, water sprinkler facility and turf bounce on Monday. They said the practice turf is also good enough for practice.

Officials of state sports department said the installation of floodlights for the practice turf would be completed before the arrival of the teams.

“We are confident that the installation of lights would be completed by November 30. The FIH team today visited both the grounds and gave their opinion,” said sports secretary, Saswat Mishra.

Sports officials said that Holland would be the first team to arrive in Bhubaneswar on November 27. The Indian, Argentine and Australian teams are likely to reach by November 30.

“ As the host country will play all its matches under flood lights, they need to adapt themselves under floodlights. We are hopeful that the lights would be installed on time so that the participating teams get sufficient practice before the main matches,” said a senior official.

This is the 35th edition of the Champions Trophy. From this year, the tournament will begin to be held biannually due to the introduction of the Hockey World League, thus returning to its original format that was changed after the inaugural tournament in 1978.