The Nehru Cup is on course for an August 18 start. Here’s hoping that the Ambedkar Stadium will be.
If first impressions are anything to go by, it could be a tall order despite assurance to the contrary.
On Wednesday, officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) inspected the Nehru Cup venue where three days before India’s most important football tournament begins, Independence Day celebrations will be held.
For now, the stadium hardly looks a football venue.
Parts of the seating area has bamboos strewn over. To build a shamiana, some bamboos have also been fixed on the turf. The railing around the playing field is yet to be completed.
On the playing park, some 300 children rehearse their drills for the August 15 programme everyday.
KS Mehra, commissioner, MCD, insisted everything would be hunky-dory before kick-off. “We still have time. We are taking care of everything. We have assured the AIFF that after the celebrations, we will dismantle everything and hand them (the AIFF) the stadium intact for the tournament,” he said.
The railing around the playing area too will be ready in 15 days, Mehra said. Here with other officials, AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco when asked if deferring the tournament was an option, said: “Everything seems okay. I don’t thing we will face any problem in conducting the meet.” Football lovers in the Capital will live in hope that he is right.
{{/usCountry}}The railing around the playing area too will be ready in 15 days, Mehra said. Here with other officials, AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco when asked if deferring the tournament was an option, said: “Everything seems okay. I don’t thing we will face any problem in conducting the meet.” Football lovers in the Capital will live in hope that he is right.
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