In July 2018, Indian state Odisha wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to declare field hockey as the national sport of India. The state government of Odisha has been supporting India's national field hockey team from February 2018 till next five years. The 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup was held in the Odisha capital Bhubaneswar between 28 November and 16 December and culminated with Belgium as World Champions defeating Netherlands in the finals. Field hockey was believed to be India's National sport but this was debunked by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which confirmed that it had not declared any sport or game as the national sport.