Senior Women’s National Football Championship played in flooded ground, players injured
Due to continue rain, the Senior Women’s National Football Championship played in flooded ground in pasighat, players injured, alleged by players in through social media.
Itanagar/ Pasighat
Minister of Sports & Youth Affairs, Got of Arunachal Pradesh Mama Natung said that the state government, Sports Department and the organizing team are putting their best effort to ensure smooth play of Senior Women’s National Football Championship which is being held at Pasighat.
It must be mention here that, there have been numerous complaints of “unplayable conditions” as quoted in many news outlets following heavy rains in the venue. It was only three days in the tournament and the muddy, crooked ground has seen the injury list boost to double digits with bruised knees and swollen ankles.
“Within 50 seconds after the start of one match, a Delhi player got injured because of pathetic ground conditions. At the end of the match, the injured list had Deepika Venkatesh, Anushka (knee injury) and Nidhi (twisted ankle). Some of these injuries could have been life threatening,” said a team official, reported TOI.
We lost against Bihar yesterday, and I walked off in tears, not because of the loss, but because it was hardly a game of #football. The ground was flooded, and the ball was hardly moving. Heart broken by the conditions we are being asked to play in. I would be, even if we won. pic.twitter.com/pSBmVdMj5d
— Tanvie Hans (@TanvieHans) September 11, 2019
“One player has got three stitches on her cheek. There is another with a knee injury and third has a twisted ankle. As a contingency measure, we requested the officials to allow five substitutes instead of three but they didn’t agree,” another official added.
There were also complaints from players of excess mosquitoes, water scarcity and irregular electricity.
When asked about these complaints, Minister Natung stated that the state government has directed and instructed to the organizers to drain out the rain water from the ground to ensure favourable condition for the players so as to ensure competitive championship.
