Jaya suspends sports official for hosting SL team

The Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa suspended a stadium officer here for allowing a Sri Lankan football team to play a friendly tie, terming it as an insult to Tamils and directed that the visiting team be sent back home.

'The [Nehru] Stadium officer has no authority to allow matches there and only the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu is authorised to do so. By using an authority that did not exist, the official had demeaned the sentiments of Tamil people,' she said.

Jayalalithaa directed the state chief secretary Debendranath Sarangi to place the Nehru Stadium official under suspension and initiate department-level proceedings against him. 'I have also instructed that no competitions must be held for the Sri Lankan team besides directing that they be sent back,' she said in a statement here.

The team from Royal College, Colombo, had played a match against the Chennai Customs Department in the friendly tie organised by a former city league football player on Friday.

Jayalalithaa's action comes against the backdrop of her vociferous opposition to India training Sri Lankan military personnel not only in Tamil Nadu but also anywhere else in the country, saying the Lankan forces had committed war crimes against Tamils in the island nation.

The AIADMK chief also slammed the centre for allowing the Sri Lankan football team play matches in Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa said she had received information that an official of Royal College of Colombo had called up an officer at the Reserve Bank of India in Chennai, seeking to make arrangements for some Sri Lankan football players to play friendly ties here.

Accordingly, they played the match with Customs Department on August 31 and coming to know this, she said, she had directed a complete probe.