Champions Cup: Chennai kicked off as SDAT acts pricey

When Chennai last saw the Indian football team in action, it was in the twentieth ce­ntury.
AIFF secretary Kushal Das (File | AFP)
AIFF secretary Kushal Das (File | AFP)

CHENNAI: When Chennai last saw the Indian football team in action, it was in the twentieth ce­ntury. For a while that run looked like en­­ding, with the All India Football Federat­i­on planning a month-long camp and two in­­ternational fixtures in the city, starting Friday. But all that has been cancelled after Sports Development Authority of Tamil Na­­­­du gave them an exorbitant tariff for us­e of the stadium and its fac­i­l­i­ties.

“We have been talking to them for almost a month now,” AIFF secretary Kushal Das told Express. “We had also started maintenance work on the ground. Then three days ago, SDAT officials told us to stop the work citing that permission to use the stadium had not been granted then. Today (Wednesday) we got a letter which has mentioned some exorbitant rates.”

The camp and the matches will now be shifted to Mumbai. “This sort of an attitu­de by a governmental sports development authority, whose job is essentially to promote sports is sad and shameful,” Das added. SDAT officials confirmed that they had sent a letter to AIFF, but were yet to get a reply from them.

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The New Indian Express
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