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14
Sat, Dec

T&T footballers (from left) Randanfah Abu Bakr, Marvin Phillip, Willis Plaza, Taryk Sampson and Robert Primus.
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NINE T&T footballers who have been stuck in India since April have been granted provisional exemptions to return home.

The players include Churchill Brothers FC defenders Radanfah Abu Bakr and Robert Primus, and striker Willis Plaza; Gokulam Kerala players Marcus Joseph (forward), Nathaniel Garcia (midfield) and defender Andre Ettienne; Neroca FC defender Taryk Sampson and goalkeeper Marvin Phillip; and Mohun Bagan AC defender Daneil Cyrus.

The Hero I-League cancelled its remaining matches in April owing to the COVID19 pandemic.

The footballers have written to the National Security Ministry on several occasions to be granted exemptions to return home.

A group of five T&T students was recently repatriated to T&T and when asked about the footballers, National Security Minister Stuart Young had said the ministry was “balancing numbers.”

Abu Bakr told Newsday, “(The e-mail from the ministry) basically states that exemption was granted but we must provide our confirmed route home, our commitment to be quarantined and choice of quarantine – state or supervised – before the final exemption is granted.”