Youth Championship matches have been rescheduled after the Ministry issued permission to play matches at night. With the lighting system of the Stadium now fixed, matches are set to take place solely in the evening and at night.
Match schedules of the Youth Championship have been altered accordingly after acquiring the permit to resume matches during nighttime owing to the completed renovation of the lighting systems at the Galolhu National Stadium, Male' City.
Matches scheduled for 08:00 hrs in the morning have now been postponed to 16:00 hrs in the evening, while matches starting at 16:00 hrs have been rescheduled to 21:00 hrs at night.
The Youth Championship, which was delayed thrice due to unfinished repair work of the stadium's lighting system, was begun Sunday morning at 08:00 hrs with a match that faced off Odi Sports Club, previously Masodi Sports Club, against TC Sports Club.
With Abdulla Fizan's only goal during the entire match, TC had claimed victory with a score of 1-0. Each half of the match had saw water breaks after a 25 minute play.
After the schedule for the Championship was published, coaches of the contesting teams had raised complaints stating that they do not wish to play a match in the morning. However, the schedule was unable to undergo any changes as the Ministry had at the time prohibited night time matches owing to ongoing repair work of the lighting system.
With this permit now issued, Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has now brought several changes to the schedules. The match facing off Buru Sports Club and Super United Sports (SUS) originally slated for Sunday evening had taken place later in the night at 21:00 hrs. This match was won by Super United Sports with a score of 6-2.
Super United's first goal was scored after a Buru player accidentally kicked the ball into their own goal. Their remaining goals were scored by Ahmed Navaaf Fauzy, Mohamed Hoodh Ahmed, Mohamed Aiman Ali and Mohamed Izan Ali, who had secured two goals for his team. Meanwhile, Mohamed Nihan had scored both goals of Buru Sports Club during the first half of the match.
The lighting systems at the Galolhu Stadium had faced several damages during the recent football season, raising difficulties in continuing matches. During last season, the match facing off Maziya Sports Club and Buru Sports Club on December 5 at night was interrupted after all lights at the Football Stadium went out. The match was later resumed after 32 minutes with a temporary solution. Consequently, the remaining two matches of the League was rescheduled to the afternoon, with all subsequent matches of the second division also taking place in the evening as a result.
Ministry of Sports, Fitness and Recreation had assigned the repair work of the Stadium's lighting system to Sifainge Welfare Company (SIWEC) on January 31 this year.
The project was appointed to SIWEC with an allocation of MVR 3.9 million and a stipulation of concluding the repairment in 30 days. However, practical work of repairing the lighting system was begun on May 26. Ministry of Sports explained that the repair work was commenced after identifying and grasping the overall extent of damages borne by the systems.
The Ministry also revealed that the lighting systems will be fully repaired in early June as well.
With a total of eight teams, the competition will be divided into two groups. While two matches of Group A was concluded yesterday, two matches of Group B is scheduled to take place today. Maziya Sports Club and Green Streets will meet for their match at 16:00 hrs this evening while Club Eagles and United Victory (UV) will play against each other at 21:00 hrs tonight.
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