U-23 trio down with dengue

U-23 trio down with dengue

They were supposed to have lined up for the Singapore Under-23s in a friendly match against Cambodia last Friday.

Instead, Al-Qaasimy Rahman (first inset), Fazli Ayob (second inset)and Syafiq Zainal (third inset) found themselves lying on hospital beds over the weekend.

Tests showed the three footballers, who are in Aide Iskandar's provisional South-east Asia Games (SEA) squad, contracted dengue fever.

Defender Al- Qaasimy, 21, looked worse for wear when he sat out training last Thursday.

He had trouble sleeping later that evening and went to the Changi General Hospital - where he was warded - at about 4am on Friday morning.

Winger Fazli, 23, and 22-year-old striker Syafiq, meanwhile, took part in training but were left out of the team for the match.

They were warded at the Raffles Hospital, just hours after the match, which Singapore lost 1-0.

"We first felt it (the effects of the fever) after training on Thursday," said Syafiq. "Our legs just felt lembik (soft in Malay), but we didn't think too much of it.

"The next morning, the weakness and aching were not so bad. But just before the game, the fever went up again."

Syafiq and Fazli are recovering well, and could be discharged today. Al-Qaasimy, however, is still being monitored and doctors could not confirm when he would be discharged.

But his temperature has stabilised over the past two days and his platelet count has dropped, which suggest he could make a recovery soon.

The Courts Young Lions player said the field at Geylang Lorong 12, where the U-23 squad trained for most of last week, could have been where he contracted the fever.

A check with the National Environment Agency website shows that the Geylang field is part of a dengue cluster.

He said: "If I were the only one who got it, maybe it was from some other places.

"But two other teammates got it as well, so it's probably from there."

The U-23s will train at the Hougang Stadium from tomorrow and will play a friendly against the Philippines at the same venue on Monday.

The arrangements were made before it was found that the three players had contracted dengue.

In response to TNP's query, Ms Ang Lay Kwang, Singapore Sports Council's director of Sports Club Group, said in a statement: "As part of regular maintenance of the Geylang field, the facility undergoes application of antimosquito chemicals and inspection of potential sites for mosquito breeding twice a week.

"Having understood that the Geylang field is in the cluster classified as a high risk, red alert level area for dengue cases, SSC is prepared to step up our additional measures accordingly."

The fever is a blow to the three players, who are fighting to be part of Aide's 20-man squad who will depart for Naypyidaw, Myanmar, next Wednesday.


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