Assam Football Association welcomes World Cup postponement

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Assam Football Association today welcomed the decision of FIFA to postpone the U-17 Women World Cup due to COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was supposed to be held in five cities in India from November 2 where Guwahati is one of the those cities.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the worldwide sporting calendar. Several international competitions including Olympics and Wimbledon were either postponed or cancelled for a year. The latest addition in it is FIFA U-17 Women Football.

During a recent communication with The Sentinel FIFA, the world’s governing body in football, admitted that they were monitoring the situation regarding COVID-19 in India in close collaboration with the Local Organising Committee, as well as other key stakeholders including the AIFF, Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and relevant authorities in the country.

Replying a specific query through e-mail a spokesperson from the organization also added: “FIFA is working with the Local Organising Committee to identify any potential impact on preparations for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020.”

Finally FIFA today announced the postponement of the competition. The new date of the meet would be announced later.

Welcoming FIFA’s announcement on U-17 Women World cup the secretary of the Assam Football Association Hemen Brahma today said: “ It’s a good decision. Present condition doesn’t permit us to organize the tournament as per the schedule. Earlier we have seen that several international competitions have been postponed because of COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary because you need time to recover from the situation which entire world is facing now.”

Brahma also admitted that the football season of Assam will be deferred this time because of the pandemic. “ Earlier we have planned to hold Governing Body meeting of the Assam Football Association in March but we were forced to cancel it. We really don’t know when the situation will be normal again. So it is sure that this time the football season will witness a delayed start.”

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