Shimizu authorities to restore damaged football fields

Officials in Japan's Shimizu city are sure that they will completely restore two damaged football fields prior to the arrival of the Russian national select team at its training camp May 26th. All fields will be completely ready for the Russian team's training sessions, Yoshiro Saito, managing director of the Shimizu-based national training center, told RIA Novosti here today. The Russian team's camp will be sited at this center during the June 2002 world football championship. Local authorities discovered in the morning of May 6th that two football-field lawns earmarked for the Russian team had turned yellow and wilted away; approximately 30 and 80 percent of each field were damaged. Unknown culprits apparently sprayed chemicals all over each field. Both fields will be sown with new grass seeds on Wednesday, Saito noted. We can't guarantee that these football fields will become spic-and-span, as they had been prior to the incident, before the Russian team's arrival; still we are sure that they will conform to all current football-field standards, Saito added. Talking to RIA Novosti this past April, Shimizu Mayor Hiromasa Miyagishima noted that three foot-ball fields had been prepared for the Russian team, and that these fields were being kept in perfect order. Moreover, no one is allowed to go there, he stressed. Two damaged fields measuring 110 by 73 meters and 145 by 73 meters, are located on the center's territory. All one has to do is leave the building in order to get there. Meanwhile the Russian team will conduct private training sessions at the third field, which is located on the territory of the local Nippon-Daira stadium. According to Saito, the stadium, as well as the afore-said two fields, are being guarded round the clock since May 7th. It was intended to invite Japanese, Russian and other football fans there during the Russian team's training sessions. However, such plans will now be apparently revised to a considerable extent, a top official in charge of the national training center stressed.