Bhubaneswar became Asia’s first capital city to assimilate some of the world’s best-known sportspersons at the Ekamra Sports Literary Festival on Friday with CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurating the two-day event which had a galaxy of stars.
The other star at the inauguration was triple Olympic Gold medalist swimmer, Australia’s Stephenie Rice, who stole the show with her natural charm and elegance.
A session with former Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson with Nikhil Naz turned out to be one of nostalgia, rich trivia and loads of fun.
Ekamra Sports Literature Festival presents an enriching and entertaining line up of sessions with star sportspersons like Ben Johnson, Ajinkya Rahane, Aakash Chopra, Rick Charlsworth, Dhanraj Pillay, Dilip Tirkey, that explore various nuances related to different sports and the journey and struggles of sportspersons life.
An initiative of Emerging Sports and the Department of Sports & Youth Services, Government of Odisha, this high-powered conclave will include some of the biggest sports stars including athletes, players, and coaches, national and international sportswriters.
@sports_odishay as a yet another major event to the run up to Hockey World Cup at Bhubaneswar.
Eminent Sports persons, Coaches and Sports writers from across the globe are here to support the cause of sports.
“Your presence has created the much needed euphoria for the upcoming Men’s World Cup Hockey. I welcome all of you to Odisha. Hosting the Men’s Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar is a certainly a glory for us,” said the CM.
For several decades now, Odisha has been the cradle of hockey with many of top Indian players from Odisha donning the national colours. As a State, we wanted to take our commitment towards the sport to another level by putting a spectacular show, which would eventually see hockey lovers from across the globe return back home with alluring memories from the event here”, he said.
While the greatest spectacle in the world of hockey is coming to Bhubaneswar, it’s natural that there will be a lot of writing on the event as well. We welcome the finest minds in the world of sports to write, discuss and reveal their stories on sports, and make people engaged.to, not alone Hockey, but to the entire realm of sports and games, stated the CM.
Sports Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, former Hockey India captain Dillip Tirkey, Ajit Pal Singh, Olympian Stephanie Rice, Sport Secretary Bishal Dev attended to the function.