FIH Men's Junior World Cup could be allocated to India; Chattisgarh might get to play host
What's the story?
India is fast becoming the go-to place to host international events. It has been reported that the country may soon get the hosting rights of the FIH Junior World Cup in 2021.
The background
The International Hockey Federation FIH has keenly looked at India as a potential venue for its international events since the 2010 World Cup. Usually, the FIH does not usually revert to the same nation for hosting events in consecutive years but the return on investments in India seem to be the reason for them coming back again and again.
The 11th edition of the FIH Junior World Cup took place at Lucknow in India. India defeated Belgium 2-1 to clinch the trophy in front of the home crowd. Earlier, the 2013 FIH Junior World Cup (10th edition) was conducted Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.
The heart of the matter
As per Firstpost, the 12th edition of the FIH Junior World Cup, that is scheduled for 2021, might also be scheduled in India. In case this happens, it will be the third successive time the country will get to host the flagship Junior event.
There are a plethora of Indian sponsors who are attracted to these international hockey events. The FIH does not usually attract lucrative bids for their Junior events so it is likely that the event will be scheduled in India itself. FIH is ready to mend its allocation policy as long as India is willing to write the cheques.
Multiple Indian states such as Odisha have made their intentions clear of hosting as many international events as possible. India has also hosted the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup twice in the past three editions. The 2010 edition was held in New Delhi while the 2018 edition was conducted in Bhubaneswar.
It has also been confirmed that Bhubaneswar & Rourkela will jointly host the 2023 edition of the flagship Hockey event.
Hockey has an enormous fan following in Odisha with many International events being organized in the state.
Now Chhattisgarh may get to host the FIH Junior World Cup soon. Its capital Raipur put in the principal bid for hosting the event. Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon will be the other two cities which may stage the 16-nation event along with Raipur.
What's next?
Sources in FIH told The Hockey Insider that the governing body will happily accept the offer from the Indian state. However, there is a possibility that FIH may shift the Men's Junior Hockey World Cup to 2022.
Earlier in 2018, FIH had also stated that it will aim to make the Junior World Cup a biennial event but that plan could not materialize.
It will be interesting to see what the fate for the upcoming FIH Junior World Cup will be.