All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) Leagues CEO Sunando Dhar on Wednesday assured that it is “safe to resume” the I-League in the first week of March, two months after it was suspended due to a COVID-19 outbreak inside its bio-bubble in Kolkata.
The AIFF on Tuesday said that the country’s second tier league will resume on March 3, and the bio-security bubbles will be functional from February 20.
“I think it would be very safe for us to resume the league. We are good to go,” Dhar said. In hindsight, Dhar believes the AIFF’s decision to suspend the league in the first week of January was a correct one.
“There was high chances of the disease spreading in the hotel with multiple teams staying in the same hotel. So, after consulting Dr Harsh Mahajan from our medical committee I think we took the right decision of stopping the league and sending the players home where they could isolate, recover and then come back.”
“Dr Mahajan had predicted that the numbers would drastically fall after six weeks and that is what we are seeing, and by the time we come back in February and the matches begin in the first week of March, there would be further reduction in the number and the positivity rate.” He said everyone has recovered from their COVID infections.
