Santosh Trophy advanced

MUMBAI, OCT. 7. The Santosh Trophy Football Championships will be held in Maharashtra after all, though with a few alterations in the original programme charted out by the All India Football Federation.

The event will be held at two venues - Mumbai and Nagpur - and the dates have been advanced by a few dates so that the tournament ends by November 16. The new arrangement was agreed upon after the AIFF office-bearers met with Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, on Saturday night.

``The Chief Minister has agreed to assist Western India Football Association (WIFA) in organising the event,'' said AIFF Secretary Mr. Albert Colaco in a chat with The Hindu from Kolkata on Sunday. He was part of the federation delegation which apprised the Chief Minister about the problems faced by the host, WIFA, in hosting this national level tournament. ``A decision has been taken to start a few days earlier than the originally scheduled November 6 dateline, though the final dates and schedule will be announced later,'' he said.

As per the original schedule, WIFA had planned to hold the Santosh Trophy in Nagpur from November 6-26, but ran into problems when the district association expressed its inability to generate required funds, even after being assured of a reported Rs. 20 lakhs grant from the AIFF. Now the Chief Minister's assurance of assistance has cleared a few of the hurdles in the way.

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Section  : Sport
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