The Hindu : Sport / Football : Ancheri injured, camp off to bad start

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Saturday, Aug 07, 2004

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Sport - Football

Ancheri injured, camp off to bad start

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, AUG. 6. The Indian seniors' preparatory camp for the World Cup qualifier against Japan and the LG Cup in Vietnam had an ominous start with one of the seniormost campaigners, Jo Paul Ancheri, getting injured "quite seriously.''

The first day's practice session was held without the eight East Bengal players still to be released by the club. The Indian chief coach, Stephen Constantine, said Ancheri injured his right knee during the practice session and the damage appeared to be "very serious.'' The coach informed that the extent of the damage could be assessed only after a MRI scan and added that Ancheri's injury was really a "blow'' to the team's preparations.

The injury list is not limited to Ancheri as M. Suresh, Freddy Mascarenhus and Vimal Pariyar have been forced to keep out of the camp owing to fitness problems.

Constantine's agony worsened as the remedy prescribed by the AIFF to bridge the differences through a discussion with the East Bengal coach, Subhas Bhowmick, failed to yield any result. The East Bengal club secretary, Kalyan Majumdar, informed that both Bhowmick and Constantine had a long chat over the issue but the effort remained ineffective as both stuck to their guns.

Constantine fired a salvo at the newly-appointed committee of national selectors, saying that his word would be final in the selection of the team for the upcoming tournaments. The coach said, "I am open to suggestions from all corners, but I'll have the final say in selection at the end of the day.''

He went on to add that the coaches of the National Football League teams were the actual selectors. "I am constantly in touch with five to six coaches of different NFL teams and they are great help to me,'' Constantine said.

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