All tickets for Hockey World Cup to be sold online only: Sports Secy  

Bhubaneswar: A few hours after a group of people vandalized a ticket counter at the the Kalinga Stadium here when they were denied tickets for the upcoming Men’s Hockey World Cup, Sports and Youth Affairs Secretary Vishal Dev today said all the tickets for the event, including for the inaugural ceremony, will be available online only.

A notification in this regard will be issued in a day or two, he added.

However, the Sports Secretary did not share any details about the number of tickets to be available for the online sale.

Earlier in the day, fans who were were in a queue since last night to avail tickets for the inaugural ceremony, ransacked the ticket counter at Gate No- 9 of the stadium after they were denied tickets. The situation turned so violent that police had to lathicharge on the mob to bring the situation under control.

Meanwhile, it is alleged lack of cooperation between the Sports Department and police officials led the unfortunate incident in front of the stadium this morning.

“The Sports Department had earlier informed that offline tickets for the inaugural ceremony would be made available from November 15. The department concerned should have informed or issued a notification earlier about the unavailability of tickets,” said a local.

The Men’s Hockey World Cup is scheduled to begin at the Kalinga Stadium here from November 28.