Bengal mourns Basu’s death, I-League match called off

Kolkata: With the state in mourning for the next three days owing to former chief minister Jyoti Basu’s death, the January 19 I-League encounter between Chirag United SC and Dempo SC has been postponed.

West Bengal Sports minister Kanti Ganguly spoke with Indian Football Association (IFA) secretary Utpal Ganguli and I-League match has been put off. IFA also decided to cancel FIFA World Cup Trophy celebration programme which was scheduled to be held at Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK) this evening.IFA office will also remain closed on Monday, officials said. “The state is observing a three-day mourning and the I-League match falls during that period. The sports minister and IFA had a talk and decided to postpone the match. A fresh date will be announced later,” All India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president Subrata Dutta told reporters.“Also, there will be no musical programme at YBK today. There will be no music and FIFA World Cup will just be put up for display,” he said. 1990 World Cup winning West Germany captain Lothar Matthaus is currently in the city as part of FIFA Trophy’s first leg of the worldwide tour. “He will leave tonight while the FIFA World Cup Trophy will set for the second leg of the tour tomorrow,” Dutta said. An evening filled with music and entertainment by rock band Euphoria, Bangla band Chandrabindoo, and a performance by Usha Uthup was scheduled this evening at YBK to mark the culmination of Kolkata leg of the Trophy tour. PTI