Inter-district Dr. T Ao Trophy called off

Our Correspondent
Kohima, April 21 (EMN): The organising committee of the 21st inter-district tournament (Dr. T Ao Trophy) has called off the said competition in view of Covid-19 on Wednesday.

This was informed to the media through a press statement issued by the organisers. It stated that, “due to the unfortunate turn of events and surge of Covid-19 cases”, the tournament which was kept in abeyance has been cancelled.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, Banei M Lamthiu, tournament secretary, said the competition was called off reasoning, “Human safety is our main concern,” adding that tournaments ‘comes and goes’ and such games  could always be conducted even in the coming days.

It may be mentioned that following the detection of some players with Covid-19 on April 14 just into its third day, the tournament organised jointly by Nagaland Football Association (NFA) along with the department of Youth Resources and Sports was kept in abeyance.

However, it was learnt that the patients of Covid-19 were keeping well as they await patiently for their departure from the Covid care centres.

Lamthiu maintained that the health condition of players who have been quarantined following their detection were said to be stable.

A team coach from a quarantine centre also informed this newspaper that his players had recovered in Kohima and were waiting for the green signal from the authority to go back to their home district.

An official from the department of Youth Resources and Sports also informed that as soon as the results came out, players were immediately sent to Covid care centre, adding that “no one is sick until now”.

Meanwhile, the organisers also expressed regret towards the inconveniences caused to all concerned.