Sand art to commemorate FIFA World Cup

Odisha Channel Bureau Puri, July 12: As a few more hours were left for the final of 2014 FIFA World Cup final match between Germany and Argentina in Brazil, renowned sand artist of Odisha Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture on Puri beach on Saturday.Pattnaik created an 8 ft high sand sculpture of a World Cup trophy with the national flags of two finalist countries and faces of two captains Lionel Messi and Philipp Lahm with a message `Goal for Gold Cup’.With World Cup fever griping the entire world, the people and tourists at Puri beach were excited to watch the final match with great interest.Though India was not a part of the FIFA matches, still people were anxious to see the matches.A large number of tourists and local people gathered on Puri beach to see Pattnaik’s sculpture.Pattnaik used about five tonnes of sand and some colour sand to create the sculpture with the assistance of his students.They took seven hours to complete the sand sculpture.Pattnaik recently won the people’s choice prize in the Sand Art World Cup at Atlantic City in USA.The Padma Shri award winner artist has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships and festivals around the world and won many prizes for India.