Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, Monday hinted that the state is eyeing to host international tennis championship tournaments like Davis Cup.

” In near future, Odisha can even host a Davis Cup tie”, the chief minister said while adding ,”I wish the Odisha sports department and the Odisha Tennis Association (OTA)  to work in tandem to host more such prestigious events.”

The chief minister was speaking after inaugurating the International Tennis Men’s Tour event, organised by the OTA, here on Monday.

Odisha is emerging as a Sport City with hosting of international sports events like Asian Athletic Meet and World Hockey League. Later this year, the state is going to host the Hockey World Cup.

Patnaik felicitated international and nation players those have come to play in the International Tennis Men’s Tour event. He also handed over cash awards to four Odia tennis players,  Kabir Hans, Abhishek Mohapatra, Ritupurna Choudhry and Amit Kiran Bath.

All India Tennis Association secretary general Hiranmoy Chatterjee, OTA president Asit Tripathy, OTA honorary secretary Madhusudan Padhi, and state sports & youth affairs principal secretary Visal Dev graced the inaugural ceremony.