Officials of International Hockey Federation inspect facilities at Kalinga Sports Complex in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 16: A four-member team of the International Hockey Federation today visited the hockey stadium inside the Kalinga Sports Complex to conduct a review of the infrastructure there before the 35th edition of the Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament.

The tournament is scheduled to be held here from December 13.

The team members were satisfied with the pitch and other facilities of the stadium.

“The facilities are good and all the matches will be held in Bhubaneswar. The state government has done a good job. We have also visited a few hotels in the city,” said events co-ordinator of the hockey federation Yasemin Bay.

Australia (defending champions), the Netherlands, Pakistan, Belgium, Germany, Argentina, England and India (host nation) will take part in the tournament. This will be the first international event to be hosted in Bhubaneswar.

However, the review team has asked for some modifications in the dressing room and the press gallery for the tournament.

“The matches held in the stadium during the second edition of Hockey India League (HIL) managed to pull crowd and we are hopeful that the tournament would be successful,” said broadcast manager of the hockey federation Rupert Rumney.

On the other hand, the state sports department will complete construction of a second turf, which is an essential requirement for the tournament, by August. “The matches of the HIL had a gap of four to five days. But as many as four matches will be played on a single day during the Champions Trophy. So, we will modify the dressing room to accommodate players and referees as well as match officials,” said sports secretary Saswat Mishra.

The state government is also planning to remove the iron wire fencing around the playing area and replace it with fiberglass so that audience seated in the lower tier can have a clear view of the matches.

The colour of second synthetic surface to be laid will be the same as the existing turf. The playing area will be blue while the non-playing area will be coloured pink. This colour combination has been selected to make live telecast of matches more attractive on television.

In July last year, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the existing stadium built at an estimated cost of Rs 19.94 crores with a seating capacity of 6,000. The facilities of the stadium include an automatic sprinkler system, a player’s lounge, a medical room and a dope control room.