Oman take off after floodlight worries

The Oman football team, which arrived here on Monday for the World Cup qualifier against India, had to overcome a minor hurdle before hitting the ground for their first training session at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Monday.

The visitors, who were scheduled to practice at 4.00 pm, began their session at 8:30 pm after a delayed arrival forced them to postpone their training session.

However, the Omani outfit would have ended without any practice as the stadium authorities didn’t have enough diesel to run the floodlights for a longer time.

But the issue was resolved after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) stepped in to accommodate the visitors for an unscheduled session.

"The Oman team was supposed to practice at 4:00 pm, which was to be followed by the Indian team practice at 6:00 pm," said Anil Kamath, Asst General Secretary and Director (Competition), AIFF.

"But due to their late arrival, we had to reschedule their session to an evening slot. With the floodlights requiring diesel, we weren't sure if we had enough to last another two-hour session. But we resolved the issue, allowing the practice to go ahead as per schedule," he added.

MP Swamy, the BDFA chairman, said that a miscommunication had resulted in the problem.  
"There was a small miscommunication between the authorities here and the officials at the AIFF. But now we have sorted out the issue," Swamy said.

The Oman players later went through a session under the watchful eyes of coach Paul Le Guen from France.