The cold war between the Indian Super League and Sports Authority of India organisers continued after the latter decided to scrap the franchise-based football league’s booking on February 4 in Delhi for Delhi Dynamos’ clash with Mumbai City FC, reported Telegraph.
The administrator of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, in a letter, wrote to Dynamos stating that SAI had to cancel the Delhi versus Mumbai clash because the sports ministry-backed Khelo India Games will be held at the venue between January 31 and February 4.
The report had a Dynamos official stating that Nehru Stadium’s unavailability would be of huge inconvenience to them, and that they hoped to come to a compromise with the national sports body. The stadium authorities drew some flak recently after the newly laid pitch suffered damage after Bollywood star Salman Khan’s marquee event. The pitch was reworked on for the U-17 World Cup earlier in the year and hosted India’s matches.
A month ago, the organisers of the ISL, Football Sports Development Limited had raised objections over Khan and co’s event. SAI, at the time, had stated that there would not be any damages because of the turf cover.