Nagaland U-15 football team to play for Gothia Cup in Sweden
Kohima: Nagaland Adviser to the Youth Resources & Sports Zale Neikha graced the departure programme of the U-15 Girls Team for Gothia Cup in Sweden; the Gothia Cup is the world’s largest youth tournament for football and the first ever state team to be participate.Addressing the players, Neikha said this is an opportunity for them to get exposure outside the country as well as experience at international level. He wished them a successful tournament and encouraged them to play to the best of their ability. The concept of Gothia Cup in Sweden was formulated in 1975 with its vision to be a meeting place for the young people of the world, regardless of colour, gender or religion. With more than one million participants from 143 countries, Gothia Cup is the world’s largest international youth football tournament. Each year, around 1700 teams from 80 nations take part and they play 4500 games on 110 fields. Nagaland has put together the first ever U-15 Girls team to participate in the Gothia cup and has been successfully chosen to represent India in the parade of nations during the opening ceremony 2019. The team will be playing its first match on the 15th of July next. (UNI)
Former India goalkeeper dies
Chennai: Former India goalkeeper A U Celestine died here after a brief illness, his family said.He was 73 and is survived by his wife and son.Celestine passed away at a hospital here late Monday night where he was undergoing treatment.He had represented India in the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia in 1969.The tall Celestine represented Tamil Nadu and was considered one of the state’s top custodians.A cartilage injury cut short his football career and he later took up coaching and trained the Tamilnadu state teams (junior, sub-junior and women).He was a talent spotter for the All India Football Federation. (PTI)
Yograj takes jibe at Dhoni
New Delhi: Former India pacer Yograj Singh, father of 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj, has asked Ambati Rayudu to come out of retirement and prove a point, adding “filthy” people like M.S. Dhoni won’t be around forever.Middle-order batsman Rayudu last week announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.Rayudu was not included in the 15-member squad for the ongoing World Cup. Despite being named in the reserves, he was not called up in the squad after Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar suffered injuries and Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal were, instead, named as their replacements. (IANS)
Gama extends contract with Goa
Panaji: FC Goa’s defender Savior Gama has signed contract extension with the club for two years which will keep him with the club till the summer of 2021. The 22-year-old left-back was one of four players to make the step up to FC Goa’s first team from Clifford Miranda’s developmental squad which won the Goa Football Association (GFA) Professional League in the 2018-’19 season. Alongside Mohammad Nawaz, Liston Colaco and Princeton Rebello, Gama made the step up to senior football on the national stage, making six appearances in the Indian Super League and the Hero Super Cup. Gama was visibly delighted with extending his stay at the club after a stupendous breakthrough season which saw him come on as a substitute in the ISL final and pick up a winners’ medal in the Super Cup.”I’m very happy to be staying here at the club. I hope I can improve a lot more in the next two years and beyond.” Gama said. (UNI)