Sport - Football   

Indian team for SAFF championship

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA JAN. 6. Preferring youth to experience, the Indian football coach Steepen Constantine chose the final 20 players who would be touring Dhaka for the SAFF championship scheduled to be held between January 10 to 20.

Announcing the final list of the touring members here following the fifth day's practice at the SAI Eastern Centre on Monday, Constantine said that the most positive aspect of the team was the abundance of youth. He said the task of going into an international tournament with so may untried players would make the task very difficult but that puts up the challenge for the team and "it is up to them to seize the opportunity."

The coach added, "I think we've more potential than the other teams ... but still it will be a big fight ahead as no one's going to give anything for free."

The coach said that Bangladesh, having the home advantage, would be the toughest opponent while the likes of Maldives and Nepal would be other teams to contend with once India makes it to the decisive stage.

In the absence of a few key players of the likes of likes of former captain and striker Bhaichung Bhutia, defenders Dipak Mondal, Mahesh Gawli and midfielder Tomba Singh, who have missed out owing to injury, Constantine said the present squad would be the best and the "fittest" the country can hope for.

The attack looks an even balance of youth and experience with the likes of seniors I.M. Vijayan--who is aiming for an hat-trick of SAFF titles--and Alvito D'Cunha and juniors Abhishek Yadav and Ashim Biswas completing the line-up. The midfield too presents an interesting mix with the seasoned Renedy Singh, Jo Paul Anchery, and Harvinder Singh being paired with the likes of relative greenhorns like S. Venkatesh, Subhas Chakraborty and Climax Lawrence. The defence, justifiably, will see a predominance of seniors with captain Devjit Ghosh marshalling the back along side probables likes Roberto Fernandes, M. Suresh, Samir Naik, Selwyn Fernandes or Abhay Kumar. The three players who were axed from the 23 probables who finally attended the practice were: Basudev Mondal, who showed a very low fitness level according to the coach, forward R.C. Prakash and goalkeeper Sandip Nundy, both of whom were injured during practice.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar (Mohun Bagan), Naseem Akhtar (Mahindra United), Virender Singh (Punjab Police); Defenders: M. Suresh (East Bengal), Devjit Ghosh (captain, Mahindra United), Sameer Naik (Dempo SC), Roberto Fernandes, Abhay Kumar (both Salgaocar), Selwyn Fernandes (Vasco SC); Midfielders: P. Renedy Singh (Mohun Bagan), Subhas Chakraborty, S. Venkatesh (both East Bengal), Climax Lawrence (Salgaocar), Harvinder Singh, Jo Paul Anchery (both JCT), Jules Alberto (Vasco); Forwards: Ashim Biswas (Tollygunge Agragami), Abhishek Yadav (Mahindra United), I.M. Vijayan (JCT Mills) and Alvito D'Cunha (East Bengal).

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

Athletics

• Junior National meet from today
  
  Billiards & Snooker
  
• Pankaj makes semifinals
  
  Chess
  
• Blitz game all set to take centrestage
• Harikrishna is joint second
• Deepan, Poobesh and Siddarth share lead
  
  Cricket
  
• Get Tendulkar back to where he belongs
• England wins at last
• Bond back for fifth one-dayer
• North begins on a winning note
  
  Football
  
• Omagbemi takes Salgaocar into semifinals
• Indian team for SAFF championship
  
  Hockey
  
• Punjab Police claims Dhyan Chand Cup
  
  Tennis
  
• Grasscourts should favour home players
  
  Weightlifting
  
• Tamil Nadu makes a good start
  
  

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu