West Bengal will not hold any sporting event till March 31 in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, but the fate of Sunday’s I-League derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan is yet to be decided.
The decision to not hold any sporting event was taken during a meeting that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held with various sports bodies and clubs.
The meeting was held after the BCCI announced the scrapping of the India-South Africa ODI series. The Eden Gardens in Kolkata was slated to host the third match of the series on March 18.
Regarding football matches, Banerjee asked All India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president Subrata Dutta to convey to the AIFF that no match should be scheduled in the state till March 31.
Banerjee proposed that the derby be postponed, but Dutta told the Chief Minister that AIFF President Praful Patel has already declared that all remaining I-League matches would be played in empty stadia.
Banerjee then requested Dutta to see if the derby can be postponed.