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What's the story?
Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar is this years venue for the inaugural edition of the Super Cup. However, organizers are now faced with a new problem as the pitch looks to have been damaged, hours before the tournament's Round-of 16 stage is set to begin, as a section of the grass on the pitch seems to have been disfigured.
However, the AIFF is taking steps to curb the damage done to the pitch, with less than a day left for the tournament to kick off.
In case you didn't know...
Kalinga Sports Complex is a multipurpose arena in Bhubaneswar which houses facilities for sports such as football, hockey, athletics, basketball, tennis, table-tennis, and swimming.The stadium is set to host the final of the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup as well.
The heart of the matter
The pre-quarter stage of the Indian Super Cup will get underway on March 31. With just hours left, the organizers seem to face a fresh problem as the ground does not seem to be at its best. The turf has been damaged by reactions with the chemical used to mark the grass, according to reports.
The authorities have well and truly taken over the matter as it was noticed that parts of the pitch were damaged after the groundsmen were done preparing it.
When contacted by Sportskeeda, the AIFF confirmed the aforementioned damage to the turf, but also mentioned that the damage was mostly done to the pigmentation of the grass. Hence the authorities at the stadium are currently looking at applying vegetable pigmentation to patch things up.
What's next?
With almost no time remaining before the next stage of the tournament, it remains to be seen whether or not Kalinga Stadium's pitch can be returned to its previous form with the current treatment being applied on it.
Author's take
This is a huge blow for Indian football as the inaugural Super Cup has already been run into problems. To add that, extra care should be taken so that harmful chemicals are not used to draw the lines on the pitch. The safety of the players can also come into question, with this regard.
