Injured Vijayan pulls out

CHENNAI, AUG. 18. The current Federation Cup football tournament, already short of public interest suffered a further setback with star player and a definite crowd puller, I.M. Vijayan having had to pull out following a freak injury during practice session here on Friday.

With East Bengal team this season after his transfer from F C Kochin, Vijayan was with his teammates at the St Bede's ground for work out when unexpectedly he developed strain on his right knee after essaying a kick. Finding difficulty in stretching the knee, he was taken to a orthopaedic expert, Dr Chandran, who after detailed examination suggested that arthroscopic surgery was needed to mend the injured knee.

Having earlier gone through similar surgery on his left knee at Kozhikode, Vijayan preferred to have it done by the same doctor (Dr Jose) and left by flight on Saturday. Mr Swapan Pal, who gave this information said this was an unfortunate development since missing from the list would also be another key player, Jo Paul Anchery, who in fact did not come at all, preferring to rest and get over his groin strain, which had caused him to slip the Indian team's recent trip to England.

Anchery, it may be recalled had suffered a major ankle injury right at this venue during the 1995 SAF Games. ``In any case it would have been inadvisable to have him play on this ground now particularly from the way it looks,'' Pal said, while wondering how such a good turf that the stadium had earlier could come to this state of affairs.

With two key players out, the tournament's glamour element suffers but as far as East Bengal's strength, Pal said their absence would definitely be felt but the side had the depth, particularly foreign talents like Jackson, Ali Mayayai and Omoloja being there and having served well thus far.

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Section  : Sport
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