By IANS,
New Delhi: Unrelenting rain gods and lack of star attraction has persuaded the football fans of the city to give the Nehru Cup a miss.
Three consecutive days of football have seen sparse crowd turnout with fans deciding to stay home and catch the match on their television sets.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium bore a deserted and forlorn look for Friday’s match between Cameroon and Syria. Only a handful of spectators could be seen – probably just about a hundred of them – there.
“It’s been raining the whole day, some of my friends were to come but decided not to because there will be too much traffic due to rain. I stay close by, so I came anyway,” Abhimanyu Tewari, a law student, told IANS.
The tournament has lost much of its sheen after top ranked Cameroon decided to send their third-string team.
“When I first heard Cameroon were coming, I was so excited. I thought guys like Samuel Eto’o and Alex Song would be here. But later I got to know that none of the first team is coming. That was really disappointing,” said a disgruntled Mayank Arora.
“This is the first match I’m coming to see and probably will come for the India and Cameroon match as well,” he added.