MARGAO
The offices of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda “ one of the three venues for the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) “ will remain closed till September 29 on account of the rising Covid-19 cases, a top official of the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) has said.
“On account of the rise in COVID-19 cases at the PJN Stadium at Fatorda, the Stadium office is hereby directed to be closed till 29/09/2020 with immediate effect,” VM Prabhu Desai, Executive Director of SAG said in a letter circulated to the concerned departments.
“Further, beyond 29/09/2020, if any of the employees have symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, breathlessness, severe body ache or cold shall continue to remain home till 05/10/2020, under intimation their immediate supervisor. This is for strict compliance,” the letter adds.
According to sources, two employees at Nehru stadium are infected with coronavirus. The stadium has been home ground of FC Goa since the inception of the ISL and hosted two finals, in 2015 and 2019. The venue was also doubled up as a shelter home for several migrants during the coronavirus lockdown.
The seventh edition of the ISL will be held across three stadiums -- Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, and the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco. The stadiums have been allotted to the teams based on their standings from the previous season and each team has been allotted a separate training pitch.
FC Goa will train at Salvador do Mundo grounds while ATK Mohan Bagan will train at Trinity ground, Benaulim. The other teams will train at the following grounds: Bengaluru FC at Dempo Academy ground, Ella-Old Goa, Chennaiyin FC at SAG ground, Utorda, Mumbai City at Panchayat ground, Nagoa, Odisha FC at SAG ground, Betalbatim; Kerala Blasters at Peddem Complex, Mapusa; Jamshedpur FC at Panchayat ground, Sangolda; NorthEast at Panchayat ground, Candolim and Hyderabad FC at School ground, Guirim. East Bengal, the newest addition to the league, will also be allotted a training pitch, organisers said.
Meanwhile, the teams have already started arriving in Goa and the pre-season training will start from October 1.
