India to organise 20 Grassroot Football Festivals

Twenty grassroots festivals will be organised by the All India Football Federation across the country in conjunction with the celebrations of the AFC Grassroots Year 2013 and Grassroots Day which falls on Wednesday, May 15.

The AIFF plans to hold the festivals in 20 districts to kick off simultaneously and to be conducted by Grassroots Leaders trained under the FIFA and AIFF grassroots programmes over the past year.

An AIFF Grassroots Course will also be held from May 20 to 24 in the state of Manipur to be managed by the All Manipur Football Association to celebrate AFC Grassroots Day.

The AIFF also aims to spread the grassroots programme to five states this year in collaboration with the respective state FAs. They will introduce the AIFF grassroots programme in each state through the grassroots centers and a comprehensive grassroots development plan to reach every district in the state. FIFA is also supporting the AIFF with a grassroots course in Mumbai this year.

The AFC has designated this year as the AFC Grassroots Year, aptly themed 'Let's Play!', and is encouraging Member Associations to organise activities to promote and emphasise that football is accessible and socially beneficial to everyone and that a strong foundation will allow players to progress to the elite level.

The AFC Grassroots Day on May 15 coincides with the International Family Day and will be celebrated throughout the week or other times suitable for the MAs.

AFC U-14 Football Festival: India boys ready

A 22 member India Under-14 Boys National Football Team would be leaving tomorrow to participate in the AFC U-14 Football Festival to be held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu from May 17 to 25. Besides the hosts Nepal the young Indians would face national youth sides from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives.

India U-14 head coach Sajid Yousuf Dar said, "This is the new beginning for the development of football in India. All the boys and support staff worked tirelessly during the two month long Coaching Camp. Hope we would achieve our goal and stand up to the expectations of everyone."

"The Festival would be a turning point for these young talents. It would give them the much desired exposure to graduate their skills," he added.

Sajid Yousuf Dar also thanked AIFF National Team Director Shubhankar Mukherjee and Technical Director Regional Academies Scott O'Donell for providing all possible support to the successful conduct of the camp.

The coaching camp for 34 players was held in Kalyani, West Bengal recently and out of which the final 22 players were selected to represent the India Under-14 Team.


INDIA Under-14

Goalkeepers
Subrata Das, Sam Noronha

Defenders
M. Jayananda Singh, Jerry Lalrinzuala, T. Kishan Singh, Prosenjit Chakraborty, Amay Ganesh Ranawade, Amit Tudu, Mohammad Azhar, Schubert Mario D'Costa

Midfielders
Bodo Baoringdao, Bugde Vineet Vikas, Laishram Loyangamba Singh, Kyntiew Shaphrang Kharlukhi, Aaron Franklin Hermiz, Saravanan Kiran

Forwards
Sourav Chakraborty, Laishram Bedashwor Singh, Mohammed Hasil, Hoble Kapil Satish, Krishna Pandit, Zonunmawia

Officials
Sajid Yousuf Dar (Head Coach), Tarun Roy (Assistant Coach-cum-Manager), Mohamad Yusuf Ansari (Goalkeeping Coach), Vishnu Nair (Physio)

INDIA Under-13 Girls: Champions return home; girls felicitated

India's triumphant Under-13 Girls were felicitated at the Football House in Dwarka by the All India Football Federation today. The girls returned back after winning the AFC U-13 Girl's Football Tournament held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said on the occasion, "I congratulate you for the feat which you have achieved. Hope you will continue with this in the future tournaments. All of you have made the country proud."

Kushal Das also announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 each for the players and the support staff in the name of the federation.

Head Coach Priya sounded elated. "We are very happy that we won. This is a step in the right direction. We hope to sustain our performance even at the U-14 tournaments."

She also lauded AIFF's support and the reward awarded to the team. "AIFF has been very encouraging and this kind of appreciation would only inspire more players to take up the sport in the country," Priya added.

The girls won all their five matches and defeated the likes of Iran (1-0), Bhutan (13-0), hosts Sri Lanka (7-0), Jordan (7-1) and Palestine 9-0 on way to winning the tournament.

AFC Football Festival: India U-13 boys do well

The India Under-13 boys have returned from a good exposure at the South Asian leg of the AFC Football Festival in Yazd City in Iran.

The AFC Football Festival has been created by the AFC as the name says as a festival rather then a tournament where it isn't about winning and trophies, but rather international exposure for the young footballers.

India did impress the AFC experts who declared striker Lalremruata and midfielders Lalmuanzova and Sandip Bhattacherjee amongst the 'Best Players' in the Football Festival in Iran, while midfielder Lazim Ali was declared the 'Most Skilful Player' as he excelled in the skill tests.

Over the duration of the Football Festival the Indis Under-13s used their whole squad. The team won five of their matches, drew two and only lost their final game against Iran.

Manager Satheevan Balan was pleased with the performance of the boys. "It was the first time the kids played at such a big platform. But they stayed composed."

Assistant Coach Tarun Roy added, "There was a healthy turn-out in all the matches and our performance was appreciated by all."


Results

First round results

India 8-0 Bhutan
India 1-1 Pakistan
India 3-0 Yazd City
India 8-0 Bhutan (Return-leg)
India 1-1 Iran

Second-round results

India 7-0 Bhutan
India 8-0 Sri Lanka
India 0-2 Iran

India U-13 Boys for AFC Football Festival

The AIFF has finalised the playing squad for the Under-13 AFC Football Festival (South Asian Zone) to be held at Yazd City, Iran from May 18 to 28. The squad was selected from a month-long camp in Chandigarh.

The Under-13 AFC Football Festival is not in a tournament format, so India would be facing all participating sides - Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and the hosts Iran. The Football Festival is about exposure for young kids at the international level.

Manager Satheevan Balan informed, "We will divide the squad into two teams so that everyone gets a chance to play. One team will play the first match while the remaining boys will play the next."

"Results don't matter at this stage. It's important to give an opportunity to all to generate interest at this age," Balan added.


INDIA Under-13

Goalkeepers
Sam Noronha (Goa), Subrata Das (West Bengal)

Defenders
Fwiden Bargoyary (Assam), Vijay Kumar (Haryana), Konjenbham (Manipur), Maniranjan Singh (Manipur), Vanlalruata (Mizoram), Jonathan Lalmuansanga (Mizoram), Krishanu Santra (West Bengal), Rabin Mahato (West Bengal), Babu Mondal (West Bengal), Shahbaaz

Midfielders
Lazimali (Kerala), Bento Neuton Joe (Kerala), Lalthansanga (Mizoram), Lalmuanzova (Mizoram), Lalrintluanga (Mizoram), Sandip Bhattacharjee (West Bengal), Rajesh Goswami (West Bengal)

Forwards
Heisham Sailesh Singh (Manipur), Lalremuata, (Mizoram), Firozuddin Molla (West Bengal), Basu Mukherjee (West Bengal)

Officials
Surinder Singh (Head Coach), Tarun Roy (Assistant Coach), Satheevan Balan (Manager), S, Babu (Physio)