The Hindu : Sport / Football : Learning it ‘the Arsenal way’

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Learning it ‘the Arsenal way’

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Paul Noronha

PROMISING TIE-UP: Mr. Percy Siganporia, MD, Tata Tea, with Mr. Adrian Ford, Commercial Director, Arsenal FC, display the T-shirt signed by the Arsenal soccer team.

MUMBAI: Indian footballers in the 10-15 age group will learn to play the game ‘the Arsenal way’ with the launch of the Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars, a tournament and coaching programme in India next year, to be held in association with English Premier League club Arsenal FC.

The first part is a national-level schools tournament, followed by specialised training from Arsenal coaches in India for 30 talented players shortlisted by four talent scouts.

Fifteen of them will then travel to the Emirates Stadium, London, for a stint at an Arsenal training camp and an opportunity to attend the Arsenal International Soccer Festival in August 2008.

Mr. Adrian Ford, Arsenal FC Commercial Director and Mr. Paul Shipwright, manager of franchise partners in the UK and overseas and organiser of the annual Arsenal International Soccer Festival, were present at the project announcement on Monday.

Mr. Percy Siganporia, Tata Tea Managing Director, received a signed Arsenal FC team T-shirt from Mr Ford.

Team sport

Mrs. Sangeeta Talwar, Tata Tea Executive Director, said, “We have selected soccer, a high energy team sport, which has a lot of interest among teenagers.

And what better way to bring about this awakening than to associate ourselves with Arsenal.”

Children born after September 1, 1992, can take part in the Soccer Stars tournament, to be conducted across four zones and nine cities. Zonal rounds will be played on league-cum-knockout, with two finalists qualifying for the national finals, featuring 16 teams from all over India, at Kolkata (May 9 and 10, 2008).

The talent scouts for the four zones are: Harjinder Singh (North), Premnath Philip (South), Jamshed Nassiri (East) and Brahmanand Sankwalkar (West). Arsenal FC will provide two weeks of training by club coaches, with follow-up training by club representatives and designated Indian coaches.

The first training camp in India for two weeks will be held from May 26, 2008 onwards. The second camp at Arsenal for 15 days is scheduled for early August, 2008.

The Zonal tournament schedule: Bangalore (Jan 11-13, 2008), Calicut (Jan 19, 20), Goa (Feb 9, 10), Chandigarh (Apr 5, 6), Delhi (Apr 11-13), Mumbai (Apr 18-20), Bhubaneswar (April 26, 27), Shillong (Apr 26, 27), Kolkata (May 2-4) and all-India final (May 9, 10).

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