Jaya shows lanka soccer team the door
Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday suspended M. Thomas, stadium officer at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here, for “insulting Tamil sentiments” by allowing a Sri Lankan college soccer team to play a “friendly” match on Friday with the customs team.
Thomas had given “oral approval” for the match upon an “oral request” from a sports official of the Reserve Bank of India in Chennai after the football team from Royal College of Colombo contacted him. “Not only did the officer not have the authority to permit the use of the stadium, he has also insulted the feelings of Tamils in the state,” the CM said. She said she had instructed chief secretary Debend-ranath Sarangi to suspend the officer and initiate action.
“Also, I have ordered that ... steps be taken to send them back to their country forthwith,” the CM said. She added that she had also instructed that another team of eight football players from Hilburn International School in Rathnapura, Sri Lanka, which had come for a tournament organised by a Chennai school, should be asked to return at once.
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