The Hindu : Sport / Football : Big money should come in: Brahmanand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 04, 2005

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Sport - Football

Big money should come in: Brahmanand

Sports Reporter

BANGALORE: Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, the former India goalkeeper and presently the goalkeeping coach of the India under-23 team that's undergoing intensive coaching at the Bangalore Football stadium for over three weeks now, feels that the only solution to Indian football today is that "big money should come in.

"The internal wrangling in both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and the decline in some of the Goan teams' showing in the National Football League (NFL) has been due to the paucity of funds," says Brahmanand.

"There is immense talent at the under-16 and grass-root levels, in the districts of most football playing states and even at other centres, if one bothers to scout. But there are no funds to plan and develop these talents into national and international material. While in most European countries football is an industry, in India the basic necessities are also not met."

The Indian under-23 team captained by Shanmugham Venkatesh, the Mahindra United midfielder, will play two friendly matches against the Fiji National team on August 12 and 14. The team will leave Bangalore on August 7.

The team: Goalkeepers: V.P. Satish Kumar, Subashish Roy Chowdhary. Defenders: Selwyn Fernandes, Y. Raju Singh, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi, Debrata Roy, Surkumar Singh, Manju Nanjangud Shivananju, Gurjinder Singh, N.P. Pradeep. Midfielders: Shanmugham Venkatesh (Captain), Gouramangi Singh, Subhas Chakraborthy, Sukhwinder Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, S. Malswam Tulunga, Manjit Singh. Forwards: Sunil Chettri, Vimal Pariyar. Chief coach: Sukhwinder Singh. Asst. coach: Stanley Rosario. Physio: P.K. Ramesh. Manager: Nasir Ali.