Mohun Bagan, East Bengal will not pay ISL franchise fee

Emboldened by the West Bengal government’s support, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal today decided they will not pay any franchise fee to play in the lucrative Indian Super League. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended full support to the Maidan heavyweights, according to IFA president Utpal Ganguli, who had a meeting with the CM. With the last date to bid approaching fast, the two clubs’ officials wasted little time and met sports minister Aroop Biswas, who took them to the CM’s office in the state secretariat Nabanna.

Mohun Bagan meanwhile have decided to collect the bid document from Mumbai on Wednesday. “We want to play in the ISL and have decided to collect the ITB document tomorrow. East Bengal have already collected it. We don’t want to take any chances,” Anjan Mitra said. East Bengal had picked up the ITB a few day ago. India collected 14 medals, including five gold, to finish third in the second Asian Youth Athletics Championships, which concluded in Bangkok on Tuesday. India also won five silver and four bronze.

In boys’ javelin, Rohit Yadav (74.30m) and Avinash Yadav (70.09m) won silver and bronze. Earlier, Indian throwers dominated boys’ discus with Abhay Gupta (56.47m) and Sahil Silwal (54.58m) winning gold and silver. The duo also improved the mark of 53.06m set by Sajjad Hassan of Iran in 2015.

China topped the medals tally with 16 gold.