Former Indian football team skipper, Bhaichung Bhutia said Sikkim to miss Santosh Trophy 2019-20 was the darkest day for Sikkim football.
He further said Santosh Trophy was the biggest platform for footballers in Indian football.
The absence of Sikkim team in this season of Santosh Trophy has cut down the future of many young talented footballers, Bhaichung said.
Sikkim is placed in group B of East Zone along with Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand for the qualifying round in Kolkata.
Sikkim team was scheduled to play against Chhattisgarh in its first qualifying match on Monday.
Sikkim had the second qualifying match against Jharkhand on September 27.
Speaking on this issue to media persons at Paljor Stadium, Bhaichung stated that it was saddest thing that Sikkim has missed its first match of Santosh Trophy 2019-20 scheduled for Monday.
The opponent team will get walkover so this was the darkest day of Sikkim football.
He mentioned that the entire issue was very unfortunate.
“It was a very small issue and could have been resolved easily but unfortunately few individual egos went on and made it a big issue,” he said.