Courtesy: Fiji Live


Fiji refs to officiate at 2010 World Cup

August 15, 2008

Two Fijian referees will create history when they officiate in the FIFA World Cup 2010 and the FUTSAL World Cup.

Suva school teacher Rakesh Chand Varman has been provisionally selected for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa while Amitesh Chandra Behari has been appointed as a referee for the FUTSAL World Cup in Brazil which gets underway on September 30.

The duo will be the first Fiji representatives to officiate in the worlds most premier and prestigious tournaments.

Fiji referees director and OFC instructor Chandra Segran said he was overjoyed when the news of the duo’s selection was relayed to him by FIFA and complimented them for their efforts which have been recognized by the world governing body.

“The news indeed elated me as the hard work put in by my referees has been recognized by FIFA and the appointment indeed is a blessing to referees development in Fiji, said Segran.

“Both Varman and Behari deserve to be officiating in the World Cup as they both have performed incredibly well on the international and local scene.

“Behari’s performance was gauged during the OFC Futsal play offs at the Vodafone Stadium this year by the OFC Referees committee, of which I am a member, and he was nominated as the Oceania Nominee to the World Cup for his superb performance.

“FIFA referees committee accepted our nomination thus confirmed the nomination and appointed Amitesh Bihari for the Futsal World cup in Brazil.

“This is the first time a referee has been considered for Futsal FIFA World cup and is great achievement for Fiji Referees.

“Varman was amongst the 80 referees originally selected provisionally to officiate in the 2010 World Cup and now he is sitting in 54 after elimination.

“In September 2008 final selection of 38 referees will be made in Zurich after a seminar and fitness testing.

“In the seminar they will have to go through Video Test on the Laws of the game as well as a theory test.

“Once they pass than the FIFA referees committee will decide who all will be in the panel for the World Cup 2010 and with the level of commitment shown by Varman, he is sure to make it through the last stage as well.

“These two selections mean a lot for Fiji referees as this is a motivation for other referees that they too can be eligible for World Cup appointments” he added.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com