# If Goanet stops reaching you, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # Want to check the archives? http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others #
##########################################################################
Brazilian striker Cristiano was born again Christian
Indo-Asian News Service
Bangalore, Dec 5 (IANS) Brazilian striker Cristiano Dellima Jr., who collapsed and died after scoring the goal that enabled Dempo lift the Federation Cup here Sunday, was a born again Christian who resolutely resisted allurements from other football clubs.
"A number of clubs tried to lure him. East Bengal were willing to pay him much, much more but he said no. He said he had given his word to Dempo and would stay with them," reminisced a football aficionado here.
Christiano, 25, was one of 10-15 Brazilians who play for Indian football clubs.
Some 100 footballers, the bulk of them from African nations, play in India. Some 30 foreigners were seen in action during the National Football League that concluded here Sunday with the Federation Cup final.
Christiano, star of Goa's Dempo club, fell in a heap after he was apparently pushed by Mohun Bagan's Subroto Paul after scoring his second goal.
Efforts by players to revive him failed and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
"Cristiano probably died of a massive cardiac arrest. We have no information that he suffered from any previous heart ailment. Only a post-mortem will reveal the exact cause of death," K.C. Satyaprakash, a doctor of the hospital, told IANS.
The city police, who have registered a case, took Cristiano's body to a government hospital for an autopsy. Indo-Asian News Service