Andaman pull out of qualifiers

Andaman and Nicobar have pulled out of the South Zone qualifiers of the Santosh Trophy, starting here on Wednesday.

The islanders last made an appearance in the 2014 edition of the tournament, which was held in Chennai, and it is believed that lack of funds for travel proved to be the stumbling block, once again.

Andaman were in Pool B alongside group favourites Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, but their pull-out will reduce the pool to just three teams. It also forced the All India Football Federation to change the fixtures.

"Andaman have notified AIFF of their withdrawal from the South Zone qualifiers and the schedule has been updated accordingly. We are not aware of the circumstances that led to their pull-out. That is between Andaman and the AIFF," said Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) treasurer AD Nagendra.

"Instead of having two Pool B games on a given day, it has been reduced to just one game. There will be no change in the schedule of the Pool A (Karnataka, Services, Telangana and Puducherry) games," he added.

The top team from each Pool will qualify for the tournament proper.