Bangalore, December 6
The cause of death of Dempo football team’s striker Cristiano Junior has been identified as cardiac arrest, Bangalore police commissioner S. Mariswamy said here today.
The post-mortem on Brazilian Cristiano’s body, who died yesterday after a collision with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul during the 26th Federation Cup football championship final, was conducted today morning at Victoria Hospital in the city. His body was later taken to Goa. It will be later transported to Brazil.
The Goa-based Dempo Sports Club has filed a case of negligence against the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA). Cristiano was involved in the collision immediately after striking the second goal.
The club feels
that facilities on the ground were inadequate, and moreover, Cristiano was transported to the Hosmat Hospital instead of Mallya Hospital, which was right next to the Kanteerava Stadium where the match was
being played, thus losing valuable time.
He was declared dead on arrival at Hosmat Hospital.
All-India Football Federation secretary Alberto Colaco said the AIFF would announce an ex-gratia for Junior’s family.
Colaco is slated to hold discussions with local organisers and football officials regarding the tragedy which has sent shock waves across the football fraternity.
Shocked Dempo players are trying hard to come to terms with the sudden death of their key member and Brazilian striker Cristiano Junior.
Huddled in a hotel room, they are in a state of disbelief, a day after the tragedy.
“He (Junior) was very cooperative and he freely mingled with us.
He used to guide us a lot, encourage us and give new inputs,” Dempo’s captain Samir Naik and player Stanley Colaco said here today.
Dempo players believe that Junior could have been saved had timely medical treatment been given to him. Junior was gasping for breath for three-four minutes, according to Naik.
Junior was lying motionless on the ground for about 15 minutes after scoring his second goal in the final of the Federation Cup Football Championship at Sree Kanteerava Stadium yesterday. Dempo won 2-0 beating Mohan Bagun.
The move to rush the striker to orthopaedic speciality Hosmat Hospital, two km away in heavy traffic, and not to the nearby Mallya Hospital has drawn severe criticism from Dempo players, who complained that though there was an oxygen cylinder in the ambulance, it was not working.
“If there was a good doctor, Junior could have survived”, added Colaco.
But Naik and Colaco firmly believe that Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul’s apparent blow to Junior as he bumped into him was not with the intention of harming the Brazilian striker.
They said Paul’s action came out of frustration and in the heat of the moment as his side was losing the match.
An upset Paul was quoted as saying after the incident that he was only “trying to stretch” in an attempt to save the goal.
Junior is married and his wife Juliana is in Goa.
