Opening Ceremony sets the bar for Hockey World Cup

BHUBANESWAR: It looked chaotic outside the Kalinga Stadium at 5 pm on Tuesday. Drivers trying to find the correct way, VIP movement, over-eager fans and a huge deployment of security forces made navigation more annoying than disturbing. Four hours later, when the fans moved out of the Kalinga Athletics Stadium here, they had been enthralled on a day that the sport of hockey would want to see a lot often.

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The opening ceremony of the 14th Men's Hockey World Cup has nicely set up the tournament proper to begin in the Odisha capital on Wednesday after it was declared open by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Hockey World Cup Opening Ceremony: As it Happened

The evening warmed up nicely as the felicitation of India's 1975 winners was applauded by the 10,000 spectators in attendance. By the time the captains of 16 participating teams lined up on the stage, there were more than a few awestruck faces in the stands that couldn't believe the splendour that unfolded.

Jaws dropped looking at the first-of-its-kind laser show by an army of drones and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan arrived standing on a chariot, talking to the crowd, before signing off on the stage with the 16 captains, delivering his famous dialogue from the iconic movie 'Chak De India'.

Madhuri Dixit's act, a tribute to mother earth, was one of the best directed shows a ceremony can witness, with around 800 school children part of it. The sheer magnitude of participation in that act, both human and mechanical, besides the story-telling in Madhuri's voice-over, made it one to watch. However, a few complained that it dragged at times and could have been shorter.

But those complaints were nicely addressed by the showstopper AR Rahman.

📸 | Glimpses from maestro @arrahman's concert during the #HWCOpeningCeremony at Kalinga Stadium. #HWC2018… https://t.co/ApyN97Y3M1

— Hockey World Cup 2018 - Host Partner (@sports_odisha) 1543336247000

The three-hour show witnessed a fitting musical climax as the music maestro and his troupe put up a spell-binding performance -- not just with Rahman singing his famous Bollywood compositions but also by the artists playing various instruments and singers part of the chorus.

And the ceremony had to end with the official song of the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2018 -- sung and composed by Rahman, written by veteran writer Gulzar and featuring Shah Rukh in the video.

Never before a hockey event has opened to such fanfare. Hope the World Cup lives up it.

Source : timesofindia[dot]indiatimes[dot]com