Tickets for opening show of Odisha Hockey WC for sale on OLX

Bhubaneswar: With a bevy of Bollywood stars such as Madhuri Dixit Nene, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and AR Rahman arriving in Odisha capital to enthral the audience at the opening ceremony of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, the tickets have been sold out and that has given black marketers the perfect chance to make a few quick bucks.

As the excitement for the star-studded show has reached the fever pitch, some people, aiming to cash in on the opportunity, took to online marketplace OLX to sell the tickets for exorbitant prices.

An advertisement posted on the classified website shows two tickets for the opening ceremony. A ticket that originally cost Rs 500 is being sold for Rs 4,000. The advertisement, with a picture of two tickets, was posted someone (AD ID: 1293865241) from Sailashree Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The black marketer charged a whopping Rs 8,000 for two tickets for the much-awaited show.

A hockey fan brought this to notice by posting that ad on his Twitter account this evening.

Rs 500 worth #HWC2018 opening ceremony passes being sold in OLX for Rs 8000 #HockeyWorldCup #heartbeatsforhockey #AbBasHockey https://t.co/jpzs0tKcbx

— Akhil Agrawal (@agrawalakhil) November 26, 2018

According to a volunteer of the mega event, requesting anonymity, said some youths have made quick money by selling their their tickets as demand for the show is so high.

Thousands of fans had been hoping to buy tickets were left disappointed as the website selling tickets – ticketgenie.in – crashed within a few minutes after it went live at 12 pm on November 20.

Around 10,500 tickets were sold for the opening ceremony at Kalinga Stadium Bhubaneswar on November 27 and 30,000 tickets for the AR Rahman programme in Cuttack the next day.