Namchi Sports Hostel triumphs at U-12 & U-13 AIFF Football Fest

EIGHT PLAYERS SELECTED FOR AIFF ACADEMY
NAMCHI, 30 Nov: Football fans in the state have another reason to cheer thanks to Namchi Sports Hostel.
Namchi Sports Hostel won the U-12 & U- 13 All India Football Federation Football Festival organized by the AIFF at Kalyani Stadium, West Bengal from 18-24 November. Junior football talents of the Namchi hostel secured 55 points followed by Delhi with 50 points and Maharashtra with 45 points.
Namchi Sports Hostel represented Sikkim in this event where budding football talents from 25 states participated. The Sikkim boys not only won the champion’s trophy but also impressed the organisers with their outstanding performance in this festival. The team, which was escorted by coach Suren Chettri and team manager Jigmee Bhutia, was also awarded the Fair Play trophy.
Selectors and organisers along with the Chief Coach of Indian Football team and Technical Director AIFF were all praises for the state’s contingent. The AIFF selectors also chose 15 players from the team for the AIFF Academy out of which 8 made it to the final list.
Three U-12 players Surag Chettri, Smiel Diyali and Ritik Rai and five U-13 players Namgyal Bhutia, Pratap Kumar Tamang, Biswa Kr. Darjee, Abinash Sharma and Anil Limboo were selected.
With this, Sikkim has set a record of providing the highest number of players from a state to a national academy as the number of players selected from other states is far lower than that of Sikkim. The 8 Sikkim players are among the total 52 players whose talents will be nurtured further in the academy.
After the AIFF camp, the U-12 and U-13 football talents will be taken into the India U-12 and U-13 national teams which will be announced formally in January next year.
It may be recalled here that, Namchi Sports Hostel was established by the State Government in 1999 to nurture raw football talents selected under the scheme ‘Search for more Bhaichungs’. The products of this Hostel have already set an example at the national and international level. Nirmal Chettri, Sanju Pradhan, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Asish Pradhan and Uttam Rai are some of the names that have made it big.