All focus on local lad Brendra Lakra, as CT carves niche in a new city
Bhubneswar becomes another new city to host the prestigious Champions Trophy, now on its 35th edition. But here in the Temple City, it is not just the proud city which is in focus, but obviously a local lad too.
When India takes on Germany in 24 hours from now, the crowd will be in full support of the home team. But, if there is one face which will be minutely observed, it will be the local lad Birendra Lakra.
Lakra has been in the limelight ever since he landed in Bhubaneswar, with the local media cornering him for interviews. In fact the attention he gets is so much that after coming out from the airport, the media hovered around the defender to take his byte while skipper Sardar Singh and coach Roelant Oltmans stood in the corner.
Lakra himself acknowledges the special attention he gets.
“It is slightly different here you know. There is media all around. The crowd is local and I am sure they will be closely looking at my game. So, there is every bit of excitement. The fact that I will play a major tournament in my home state, in front of my people is very exciting,” Lakra told www.stick2hockey.com.
In fact, his team mates have also noticed the special attention he gets. When the team was posing with the Odisha Sports minister for a photo shoot two days back, they played prank and tried to cover his face so that he does not feature in the photograph.
“Yes, my team mates do play pranks. They keep teasing me for the attention I get. They call me ‘local hero ,” Lakra says with a smile. “But, it is all on a lighter note.”
However, Lakra has more reasons to smile. He was finally felicitated by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with a cash prize of 30 lakhs, after India team led by goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh requested the sports minister to reward the player.
“The team supported me for it. But, of course, now the attention is on the big match tomorrow.”