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Friday, September 13, 2013

Sikkim U-6 squad selected for Dr. BC Roy tournament

GANGTOK, 11 Sept: Some aspiring footballers here have raised questions regarding the selection of the Sikkim Under-16 football team for Dr BC Roy Football Tournament [Junior Nationals] conducted by the Sikkim Football Association on Tuesday.
“Sikkim team (under-16) for Dr. BC Roy Football Tournament (Jr. National) got selected after three hours of meticulously done selection procedure’’ reads a post put up by Sikkim Football Association (SFA) in a popular social networking site on Tuesday. However, the post has created some confusion amongst football enthusiasts especially young aspirants who maintain that they were unaware of the selection date and had no idea that a selection camp for the prestigious Junior Nationals was underway at Paljor Stadium.
It has been alleged that it was only through the social media post that a major section of U-16 footballers learnt that the Sikkim team for the Junior nationals had already been selected and that all the footballers selected were mainly from two local clubs.
When NOW! contacted the SFA general secretary, Menla Ethenpa, he clarified that the selection was carried out as per the norms and directions of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). He contended that the selection process was transparent and was carried out by professionals under the guidance of Sikkim Football Association.
“There has been a slight misunderstanding here that all the players were not informed and that only certain clubs have got their players inducted into the Sikkim squad. This is not the case, I want to clarify that as per the directions of AIFF, SFA is bound to follow the norms set by the mother body for the selections. As per the AIFF, every state body should encourage club culture in their respective areas and hence players either belonging to recognized clubs or educational and sporting institutions are eligible for the selections,” stated Mr Ethenpa today.
Ruling out the allegation that players from only two organizations were inducted into the Sikkim team, the general secretary added that this is totally false as players from SAI and Sports Hostels have also been taken into the present squad apart from Sikkim Himalayan Sporting Club and Boys Club.
“As per the AIFF only players who are registered with different clubs affiliated to SFA are to be considered for selection which is why SFA informed only players and management of the registered clubs. We are not above AIFF and want to repeat that the selections were done as per the rules and regulations put before us. There is no favoritism like some are alleging. It is baseless since it is impossible for us to inform each and every individual about the selections and like we did earlier, we just informed the clubs and institutions that are registered with SFA to attend the selections,” he stated.
On being asked if three hours was enough for selecting players for a Junior National tournament, the SFA general secretary informed that as every infrastructure is in place and with the limited participation from the registered clubs, the selection process did not require more than three hours.
Similarly, on being asked about last week’s episode when a local player was suspended for some matches after he misbehaved with the referee, Mr Ethenpa stated, “We have suspended the player as well as banned the fourth official who was involved in the fracas. What I want to add is that both parties have been penalized and SFA has taken action”.

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