There are beautiful hockey stadiums and those with superb backdrops across the globe. How do these match?
Hartleyvale sports complex, Cape Town
When Cape Town accepted to host the women’s qualifying tournament for the 1996 Atlanta Games Women’s Hockey, organisers and constructors had less than 10 months to complete the design. The backdrop only adds to the beauty.
Happy Valley, Hong Kong
A happy hockey home for sure. The Valley Hockey club is the natural home in Hong Kong, playing most of its hockey in the in-field area of the Happy Valley racecourse. One of the largest hockey clubs in the city with a history spanning over 40 years.
Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, Rourkela
‘When 2,300 construction professionals get together to put in 20 hours of relentless hard work everyday for 15 months, you get to witness the construction of an architectural wonder.’ So National Geographic India on the Rourkela ‘superstructure’. It may not have the backdrop, but it is a very impressive 20,000 venue all the same.
Hockey Stadium, Abbottabad
No international matches have taken place here yet, but this thoroughly atmospheric venue (as seen in the main picture) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan is certainly a hidden gem.
Government College University, Lahore
Gongshu Canal Sports Park, Hangzhou
Winka Dubbeldam, founding partner of Archi-Tectonics, said: ‘Most stadiums are fortresses. Ours is more like land art.’ Built for the 2022 Asian Games, the stadium seats 5,000 and has a eye-catching 125m free-span wing roof. It receives plaudits everytime China play on television there.
And hockey from high…
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