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The Nigerian team, scheduled to play in the 2nd Commonwealth Championship, is lost in transit.
Kolkata, July 30 (UNI) The Nigerian team, scheduled to play in the 2nd Commonwealth Championship, is lost in transit.
The championship itself, happening after 26 years, saw its first casualty when the Nigerian team failed to arrive even after three rescheduling.
According to championship Director A Ramana Rao, the Nigerian team had initially confirmed their arrival via Dubai on Emirates Airlines on July 27.
Thereafter, Nigerian Volleyball Federation General Secretary Bode Alli Durotoye confirmed via e-mail that the 16-member team was headed for Nairobi in Kenya from Lagos from where they would board the Kenya Airlines for Mumbai on July 29.
Accordingly the Volleyball Federation of India kept their Mumbai wing on alert and also booked tickets in the connecting Jet Airways for Kolkata.
Initially, it was learnt that the airlines was late by seven hours.
But another mail from Kenyan airlines confirmed that though the team had booked tickets for Mumbai, they failed to board the plane and later cancelled the tickets.
This left the organiser in a tizzy as they had to reschedule the event twice over with each of the two groups now having four teams.
Local organising committee secretary Rathin Raychoudhury said, '' We have incurred heavy losses. Its also a face loss. '' Asked for the amount, he said, '' It would amount to some Rs 12 lakh. '' ''We have sent a few e-mails but there is no confirmation from their end,'' he added.
Mr Ramana said the Commonwealth Control Committee will sit and decide whether to impose any penalty or leave them with a warning, though the world body sites a fine of USD 500 and suspension of two years for the teams which miss tournaments after confirmation.