62nd Santosh Trophy

No Baichung Bhutia in Sikkim Squad:

Gangtok: Sikkim will miss the services of India captain Bhaichung Bhutia, who is doing national duty, during the 62nd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy to be held in Jammu and Kashmir from May 25.
Three more key players, besides Bhutia, would not be available for the same reason, SFA General Secretary Menla Ethenpa said.
The three are East Bengal player Nirmal Chhetri and two members of national under-16 team -- Ashish Chhetri and Bigendra Rai.
Keeping these limitations in mind, the Sikkim Football Association has picked a 20-member squad, Ethenpa said adding the boys should do well in the national football tournament as it would be held in similar weather condition as prevailed back home.
Sikkim has been drawn with Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Chandigarh in Pool A and play their lung opener with Tamil Nadu on May 26.
A five-day training camp for the state team was held at Paljor Stadium recently.
The squad: Bimal Bagdas, Karma Tsering Lepcha, Tashi Rapden, Rupen Rai, Karma Lhendup, Robin Gurung, Sonam Bhutia, Don Tshering Lepcha, Sagar Rai, Rohit Ansari, Milan Lepcha, Sanju Pradhan, Tshering Lepcha, Kiran Tamang, Ong Tshering Lepcha, Sisil Karthak, Engphuhang Subba, Bikash Jairu, Nim Tshering Lepcha and Bir Bahadur Pradhan.
Source: The Press Trust of India

Three from NE in India U 16 football squad

Three players from the Northeast figure in the 23-member Indian squad for the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers to be held at Dammam in Saudi Arabia from October 27 to November 7.

The three are: Ashish Chhetri and Bijendra Rai from Sikkim and Malswamfela from Mizoram.

Placed in Group C along with Bhutan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Sri Lanka, India start their campaign on October 27 against Sri Lanka, followed by matches against Iraq (October 30), Lebanon (November 1), Saudi Arabia (November 4) and Bhutan (November 7). Two teams will qualify from each group for the final round to be held in 2008.

India is hoping to beat either Iraq or Saudi Arabia to have any chance of making to the final round.

The squad left Mumbai on October 24 night for Saudi Arabia.

The Squad:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh (Chandigarh), Harshad Meher (Maharashtra), Prseley Menezes (Goa).

Defenders: Tanmoy Ghosh (Bengal), Ashish Chhetri (Sikkim), Bikash Gulia (Haryana), Vishal Kumar (Karnataka), Deepak Debrani (Delhi), Ajit Bhoir (Maharashtra), Ashpreet Singh (Chandigarh).

Midfielders: Bijendra Rai (Sikkim), Lalrimdika (Bengal), Milan Singh (Jharkhand), Akshay Mall (Gujarat), Shilton D’Silva (Maharashtra), Bikramjit Singh (Chandigarh), Tirthankar Sarkar (Bengal), Subhojit Majumdar (Bengal).

Forwards: Manandeep Singh (Haryana), Malswamfela (Mizoram), Prem Kumar (Punjab), Vivek Kumar (Haryana), Abhishek Das (Jharkhand).


Officials: Colm Joseph Toal (Chief Coach), Sanjoy Sen (Coach), Narayana Menon (Coach), Amit Kumar (Physiotherapist), Tanumoy Basu (GK Coach), Ankur Dutta (Manager)

India’s Fixture:
Oct 27: vs Sri Lanka; Oct 30: vs Iraq; Nov 1: vs Lebanon; Nov 4: vs Saudi Arabia; Nov 7: vs Bhutan