KOLKATA/AGARTALA, September 20 (TIWN): Having no affiliation from Athletic Federation of India (AFI) and any of the legally authorized committees of state, a team comprising of 20 to 21 athletes of Tripura has been denied to have participation permission in the 26TH eastern region Junior Athletics competition, to be started today onwards at Kolkata, having the participation of Asaam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa and host West Bengal .

The team of athletes led by Amiya Kumgar Das did not write to AFI seeking its approval to send team to the regional sports meet. “Complying with the rules of the AFI, the teams of four unlawful committees from Tripura have been kept away from the event”, informed AFI’s Vice President (VP) Prasun Mukherjee in a press meet, held at Kolkata, yesterday. The VP acted sharply on this sort of irresponsible attitude of the sports fraternity of Tripura. “Did they think that they would get the entry by managing few of the organisers? This is not a place to perform politics involving the players”, he remarked. Amiya and his associates are reported to put pressure on the organisers for obtaining entry to the game. The Joint Secretary of AFI and Supervisor Madhukanta Pathak has made it clear to the so called representatives of Tripura that without the recognition of AFI, taking entry to the event is not possible, anyway.