PANJIM: A five-member Asian Football Confederation (AFC) team has started inspecting the stadia and hotels for the upcoming AFC U-16 Championship to be held in the State in 2013 and seems to be happy with the facilities.
“So far they have been very happy with the stadia. The team has inspected Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda before dividing into two groups. One will inspect stadia while another will check the hotels,” said All India Football Federation (AIFF) official Savio Messias.
The inspection which began yesterday will be over by Friday.
The State government has already announced a special press conference to be held on Friday in the city to announce about the AFC Cup which will be addressed by Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar.
It is learnt that the five-member AFC delegation, who arrived on Wednesday for their final inspection, first visited the Athletic Stadium, Bambolim along with AIFF members, had a marathon discussion with the SAG officials, who assured all their support in meeting the demands of the visiting officials.
After PNJ stadium, the team is expected to inspect the training grounds such as Tilak Maidan, Nagoa, Utorda, Benaulim, Navelim, Raia, Cuncolim, BITS Pilani and Assolna of which five will be selected.
The AFC delegation comprises JinhoYu (manager Competitions), Darren Stewart, Meichiat See, Chandran Kumarason and Chetan Kulkarni, while Javier Ceppi (Tournment Director), Suvrat Thatte and Messias are from AIFF.
SAG was represented by Executive Director Sandip Jacques. Goa has been chosen as a provisional venue to host the U-16 AFC Championship Finals 2016 when the team visited last.
