National Hockey stadium to be opened today

The Maj. Dhyan Chand National Stadium will be open on 24-Jan by sports Minster M.S Gill. The National hockey stadium named after India's hockey legend, has been remodeled and reconstructed to host 12th Hockey World Cup, and also to host 2010 Commonwealth Games later this year.

It will be the first stadium among the various Commonwealth Games 2010 venues in the capital to be opened. Delhi is slated to host the Games in October this year.

The new-look stadium spread over 37 acres, has been completely renovated and upgraded for the Commonwealth Games at a cost of Rs 262 crore and will the venue for hockey.

Before the Commonwealth Games, the stadium will be the venue of the XII World Cup Hockey from February 28 to March 13.

The stadium has three synthetic hockey pitches, two conforming to international match standards and one a practice facility. It has new poly grass turf, fitted with sprinkler systems.

Its main field has a seating capacity of 16,200. The second pitch outside the main arena has 900 permanent seats and with a provision of 1600 temporary seats.

The stadium has hinged mast lights to provide 2200 lux illumination and is equipped with a state-of-the-art acoustic system. It has two scoreboards.

The entire stadium is centrally air-conditioned and fitted with lifts and barrier-free provisions. It has facilities for players such as changing rooms, relaxing lounges and VVIP lounge. It is equipped with electronic surveillance through fixed and PTZ cameras connected to central control room, which will have integrated network for connecting various facilities, to meet the operational requirement of various tournaments. The stadium where Commonwealth Games will be held, also has a two-tier underground parking facility in addition to open area parking facilities.

According to an official press release, the stadium has got power supply from two grids with a back-up based on generator sets and battery uninterrupted power supply to ensure that power failure never disrupts the games.

Among other things, the stadium will have a walk-through museum displaying portraits of hockey legends, their dresses and other artefacts related to India's position in the world of hockey.

The release said care had been taken, during the renovation, not to cause any alteration or disturbance to the heritage portion of the stadium facing the India Gate, whereas the Yamuna side of the stadium has been completely renovated on three sides, as earlier it was based on earth mound. The entire new construction has been done in a manner to merge with the old heritage structure.

The stadium was originally built in 1933 as an amphitheatre and was named as Irwin amphitheatre. It was renovated for First Asian Games held in 1951 and also for the 1982 Asian Games.