NEW DELHI: A 16-member Mohun Bagan under-15 squad will figure in the 20-team Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) to be played at Old Trafford from Aug. 8 to 11.

Addressing a media conference here on Friday, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi wished the boys well and described the team's qualification to the Nike-sponsored age-group event as a matter of great pride for Indian football.

The team, led by Sanjoy Boro, is from the Bagan Academy at Durgapur. Besides strenuous training as part of the preparation, the boys also spent 10 days at yoga guru Baba Ramdev's ashram at Haridwar.

Best team

The team qualified for the MUPC after emerging the best in the South East Asian region following its 2-0 victory over Singapore in the final. It is also significant to note that the under-15 teams of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have failed to make the grade this time.

Coach Shyamal Banerjee was guarded about the team's chances and said he would first like to see the draw, to be released on Aug. 7 and take it one match at a time.

Nike India's marketing director Sanjay Gangopadhyay stated that the company had planned an interaction between the Indian boys and the Manchester United stars Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on the sidelines of the event.

During the team's stay in England, Bagan is also likely to finalise an exchange programme with Liverpool.

Bagan's convenor and manager of the under-15 team Debashis Dutta said the Liverpool officials had visited Durgapur in 2005 and invited our under-17 boys. "On our part, we felt it was better to send the under-13 team as they could be moulded better," he said.

The squad: Tirthankar Sarkar, Amit Saha, Malswamzuala, Bhaskar Ghosh, Raghunath Murmu, Shouvik Chakraborty, Sanjoy Boro (captain), Biswadeep Das, Suman Bose, Lalrozama Fanai, Dudipta Banerjee, Rajib Bhattacharjee, Shubhankar Dey, Dipendu Dowary, Lalrinmuana David, Bapi Chowdhury. Coach: Shyamal Banerjee. Physical trainer: Dipak Bera. Manager: Debashis Dutta.

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