Sport - Sports : General

Setback for Viva Kerala

KOZHIKODE: Viva Kerala suffered a setback on the eve of its home match in the ONGC I-League at the Corporation Stadium here against Sporting Clube de Goa when it became almost certain that its in-form player, Wisdom Abbey, would not play on Wednesday, because of a hairline fracture on his left ankle, which he has been carrying from the game against Salgaocar SC last Saturday.

It is a big blow to Viva, for which Wisdom has been performing brilliantly in the league, scoring goals and helping others scores. “We do not want to take the risk of fielding an unfit Wisdom,” the Viva coach A.M. Sreedharan told The Hindu here on Tuesday, shortly after the team’s practice session. “The doctor, Schiller Jose, was also of the opinion that it wouldn’t be wise to play him tomorrow. We have many more vital matches coming up in the league, so we thought we would rest him for this match.”

Another striker from Ghana, Awudu Adama, is set to replace Wisdom but might find his compatriot’s shoes a bit difficult to fill.

“I have been telling my boys that we should try to get the maximum points from tomorrow’s game,” said Sreedharan. “Since Sporting would also try hard for a victory, it should be a good match.”

Sporting is lying at the bottom of the ten-team league with two points from five games, while Viva is in the fourth place with eight points. — Principal Correspondent

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