Speed up WC preparations, says FIFA

NEW DELHI: On a round of inspection of the six venues for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India, which will be held from October 6 to 28 later this year, FIFA Head of Tournaments Jaime Yarza on Wednesday called on the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to work on a ‘stronger pace’, in order to ensure timely completion of work ahead of the event.

After finishing his inspection of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, the first of the six venues to be inspected, Yarza said he had seen improvements, but a lot of work is still to be done.

“We have seen that there have been improvements and work has been done,” he said.

“At the same time, it is important to know that we don’t have that much time to go. There is a lot of improvement that’s needed, there’s a lot of work still to be done here in Delhi. I urge all the authorities to keep on working with the same enthusiasm, but may be with a stronger pace,” Yarza added.

STADIUM SHOULD REPRESENT THE CITY

The FIFA official said authorities must ensure that the stadium in Delhi represents the city well. “We have seen things improve, but Delhi is a very important city, and the stadium should represent the city in the best way. That means the stadium has to be really top notch,” he commented.

Javier Ceppi, Tournament Director of the LOC, said the committee is targeting end of April to finish work on training sites and other areas relating to the stadium.

“We have been talking to the government. Initially we said that all the work should have been completed by now, but we understand that there have been certain complications with tendering, etc. We are looking at the end of next month (to complete the work),” he said.

Speaking about the venues, Ceppi said that states which show ‘readiness and willingness’ will be allocated more games during the tournament.

‘WILL TAKE OPINIONS ON DELHI POLLUTION’

FIFA’s Yarza said that the world governing body is consulting doctors on possible health effects from hosting games in Delhi in October. “We are concerned. We have our doctors, and they are monitoring the situation. Once we have the opinions of the doctors, then we will know better,” he said.

JAVIER CEPPI, THE LOC CHIEF, SAID THE COMMITTEE IS TARGETING END OF APRIL TO FINISH WORK ON TRAINING SITES