[caption id="attachment_43033" align="aligncenter" width="580"]collage Kolkata giants concerned about the terrible heat during Federation Cup |Image: XtraTime[/caption] Kolkata: The I-League 2017 has come towards the business end, and the clubs have already started to raise their voice of the venue and the fixture of the premier football knock-out tournament in India. The Kolkata giants specially think that the enormous heat might be a telling factor to play quality football in the coming month. The way Anwar Ali suffered a heart-attack yesterday after the training in such hot and humid conditions, the clubs have become extra cautious about the conditions.
Today after the training session, East Bengal's Assistant Coach Ranjan Chowdhury said, "As far as I know, the temperature in Cuttack is around 40-45 degrees Centigrade at the moment. The heat will be a significant factor as we have to play games in one day's gap and also we have a couple of games at 4pm, which would be a tough ask for the players." He added, "Those people who prepare the fixtures, should be cautious about these matters. It's very much difficult for the players."
Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen too seemed disgusted about the fixture of the Federation Cup. He said, "It was a worrying factor when I heard Anwar had a heart attack. It might be because of the heat as well. I don't know if he had any other physical problems or not, but I believe the heat also played a significant role in it. And now we have to play the Federation Cup in such hot and humid conditions in Cuttack. I don't know who prepares the fixtures. I don't wanna say much."
On the other hand, Anil Kamat, on behalf of Federation Cup organizing committee said to www.xtratime.in ,"I don't know why the Kolkata teams are saying all these. The venue and the fixtures were decided by the Executive Committee. If they had any problems, they should have told that at that point of time only. The format of the tournament has also been unchanged. So, there is no point of complaining right now."