BENAULIM: Social worker and youth leader Warren Alemao’s free Football Summer Camp has got tremendous response. More than 300 youth have signed up for the camp and there are another 400 youth  and kids on the waiting list, said a coach connected with the event.

The coaches associated with the Football Camp include Vailanka Dsouza, Yadnya Parwar, Francis Fernandes, Allain Dcosta, Stacy Livramenta Barreto, Beevan Dmello and Jeromina Colaco, besides others.

“We are incurring a huge expenditure and are paying for the same from our own pocket. The satisfaction we get from seeing kids and youth enjoy the game and also hone their skills, making them into good professional footballers, more than compensates us,” Warren said. There are three age groups and the camp kicks off on 1st May till the 22nd May.

The details of the camp are as follows:

An Initiative by Warren Alemao (Youth Leader, Social worker- Benaulim Constituency)

FREE FOOTBALL ⚽️ Summer Camp !

Date : 1st May- 22nd May 2024

Time : 7:30am – 9:00am

Age Groups
1. 6-11 years
2. ⁠ 12-17 years
(For boys and girls)

For children (boys and girls) residing in Villages of Colva, Seraulim, Benaulim, Varca, Orlim, Carmona and Cavelossim (Benaulim Constituency)

Venue : Varca Sports Club Ground, Varca Village

NOTE:- Football kit will be provided for children.

NOTE:- Refreshments will be provided for children.

Football summer camps for children foster teamwork, enhance physical fitness, develop coordination skills, teach sportsmanship, and provide opportunities for social interaction and personal growth.

Contact number for Registration:
1. Mr. Franky Fernandes –
+91 76200 91672

Last date of Registration- 20th April 2024.

MUMBAI, (PTI): The much-awaited inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) will be played from March 4 to 26 in Mumbai.

The Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium will host all the matches with the tournament opener expected to be played between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians-owned franchise.

”The Women’s Premier League will be played from March 4 to 26 in Mumbai,” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal told PTI on Monday.

Dhumal also confirmed that the auction will take place on February 13 in Mumbai, a day after India’s T20 World Cup match against Pakistan.

With the five teams fetching Rs 4669.99 crore and the BCCI selling the media rights for Rs 951 crore, the WPL is the second biggest T20 League in the world behind the Indian Premier League.

Apart from three IPL team owners — Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals — Capri Global Holdings (Lucknow) and the Adani Sportsline have bought the five franchises. Around 1500 players have registered for the league and the final list is expected to be released later this week.

Each team will have a purse of Rs 12 crore at the players’ auction next month and will need to buy a minimum of 15 players and maximum of 18. Up to five overseas players, including one from associate member country, will be allowed in the playing eleven.

A total of 22 games will be played in the inaugural season with the top-ranked team in the league stage qualifying directly for the final. The second and third placed teams will battle out for a place in the title clash. (PTI)

KOLKATA, (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday congratulated India’s Under-19 women’s cricket team for winning the inaugural T-20 World Cup.

She termed the feat as the beginning of the Indian women scaling ”greater heights” in the coming days.

”Heartiest congratulations to India’s Under 19 Women’s Cricket Team. What a stellar victory in the inaugural Under 19 Women’s T20 World Cup! This is only the beginning, I am certain the daughters of India will scale greater heights in the days ahead,” Banerjee tweeted.

India on Sunday won their maiden ICC title in women’s cricket as a bunch of sprightly and talented teenagers lifted the inaugural U-19 World Cup with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over England. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI): India’s star wicket keeper-batter Rishabh Pant “is doing well and has been shifted to a private suite due to fear of infection”, revealed Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Director Shyam Sharma on Monday.

“Due to fear of infection, we have told his family and hospital administration to shift him to a private suite. He is doing better and will recover soon,” said Sharma to ANI. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday announced that the state government will provide all help for the 25-year-old’s treatment, who was seriously injured in a road accident near Roorkee on December 30 while on his way to surprise his mother.

Pant was alone in the car and reportedly fell asleep at the wheel when the accident happened. According to a statement by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in coordination with the Max Hospital Dehradun where he has been admitted, the cricketer has suffered two cuts on his forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee along with injuries on his right wrist, ankle, toe and back. Sharma on Saturday flagged concerns over visitors flocking to the hospital to catch a glimpse of the cricketer, Rishabh Pant, who is under treatment.

“Those who are going to meet Pant should avoid, as there are chances of infection. There should be no VIP movement to meet Pant, and people visiting him should avoid it as there are chances of infection for Pant,” Sharma told ANI over the phone. Shyam Sharma on Saturday arrived at Max Hospital in Dehradun to meet Pant. Sharma said: “He is stable and recovering well. Our BCCI doctors are in touch with the doctors here. Jay Shah is monitoring it. As of now, he’ll remain admitted here. He told me that he tried to save (his car) from a pothole (when the accident occurred).”

Pant escaped the near-fatal accident on Friday with burn injuries among others that will require plastic surgeries and he could be airlifted to Delhi if required. He met with the accident while returning from Delhi to Roorkee as his car collided with the divider on the Narsan border of Roorkee near Hammadpur Jhal.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India also issued a statement on Friday saying, “Pant has two cuts on his forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee and has also hurt his right wrist, ankle, and toe and has suffered abrasion injuries on his back. Rishabh’s condition remains stable, and he has now been shifted to Max Hospital, Dehradun, where he will undergo MRI scans to ascertain the extent of his injuries and formulate his further course of treatment, as per the BCCI statement shared with the media.” (ANI)

KOLKATA,(PTI): Hundreds of football fans jostle as they rummage through piles of jerseys, looking for the shirt number of their favourite players — Welcome to Kolkata’s Maidan Market, which almost resembles the streets of Qatar, where the FIFA World Cup kicks-off on Sunday.

Jerseys and flags of counties like Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Germany and Spain are hot property in this market in one corner of the iconic Maidan, as passionate football fans make a beeline outside shops to get a chance to take home a piece of sartorial glory.

”We have been witnessing a huge demand since the last one week. Flags and jerseys of Argentina are the most sought after, followed by Brazil. We expect this frenzy to continue throughout the duration of the World Cup,” said Azis Sheikh, a shopkeeper at Maidan Market.

The World Cup begins later on Sunday, when host country Qatar takes on Ecuador in the opening match. ”I have bought flags of all major football-playing countries for display in and around my locality. I have been doing the same before the start of the mega tournament for two decades now,” Konnagar resident Dulal Sarkar said.

Sheikh said on an average, around 500 jerseys have been sold daily since the last four days. A jersey set, comprising a t-shirt and shorts, is priced in the range of Rs 600-800 at the market, while a standard-sized flag costs Rs 150.

Jerseys are also available for children, as young as two years, starting from Rs 300 per set, Sheikh said.

”We are die-hard fans of Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), and the entire family wears the jersey of the country while watching football matches featuring Ronaldo. For this World Cup, I have bought a jersey for my 4-year-old son, too,” said Sohail Khan, an IT professional who resides in Garia.

Football enthusiasts said the market is the go-to destination for jerseys, flags and other accessories due to reasonable prices, which are well below the rate on e-commerce platforms.

”I bought a jersey set of Lionel Messi (Argentina) for Rs 600 at Maidan Market. It is priced in excess of Rs 1,100 on several e-commerce sites,” Ankur Hazra, who plays football at the club level, said.

Printing names and numbers on jerseys is also in heavy demand, shopkeepers said. An alphabet or a number can be printed on a jersey for Rs 10 each, said Shoaib, who owns a shop at the market for the last 12 years. (PTI)

MUMBAI, (PTI): BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Tuesday made it clear that India won’t travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup next year and will instead push for a neutral venue.

The 2023 edition, which will be played in the 50 over format ahead of the ODI World Cup in India, has been allotted to Pakistan.

”We have decided we will not travel to Pakistan. We will play at a neutral venue,” said Shah, who also happens to be the Asian Cricket Council president, after the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) here. He was re-elected as secretary for a second term.

The 2022 Asia Cup was held in the UAE last month after hosts Sri Lanka expressed their inability to host the event amid the economic crisis back home.

India and Pakistan only play each other in Asia Cup and global events due to political tensions between the two countries.

Both teams played twice in the Asia Cup last month and are set to clash in Melbourne on October 23 in the T20 World Cup.

BCCI’s cash reserves grew by approx Rs 6000 crore in last 3 years: At the AGM, outgoing treasurer and new IPL chairman Arun Dhumal informed the state units that the BCCI’s treasury grew from Rs 3648 crore to Rs 9629 crore in the last three years.

The Ganguly-led regime had taken charge in 2019 after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators’ 33-month tenure.

”When the current team took over the reins of the BCCI in 2019, the BCCI’s coffers had funds of Rs 3648 crore. We are handing over an organisation that sits over a treasury that has Rs 9629 crore of funds which is roughly thrice of what we got at the time of our taking over from COA,” said Dhumal in his speech.

”The disbursement to the state associations has seen a jump of nearly five times, from Rs 680 crore in the COA time to Rs 3295 crore now,” he added. (PTI)

QATAR: According to a Times of India report, a teenager of Goan origin, Justin Fernandes has made Goa proud by fighting his way into the Qatar football team for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers in Muscat.

The 15-year-old budding footballer was included in the match-day squad for the opener against Iraq, which Qatar won 2-1 at the Sultan Qaboos sports complex in Muscat on Saturday, the Times of India said in a report.

The youngster did not take to the field in the opening ‘group C’ clash, but with three games still left to be played against hosts Oman, Lebanon and Bahrain, it’s only a matter of time before the striker breaks into the playing 11 hitting the field with all his energy.

Justin’s football career began at the Doha-based Absolute Sports Academy, when he travelled with the under-11 team to Armenia and was voted the best forward.

A year later, his team won the summer camp tournament in Georgia, and in 2018, was the best under-13 player. In 2019, he joined Al Ahli SC, a top club in the region, the TOI report said.

Justin’s mother is from Assolna, while father Camillo was born in Mumbai to Goan parents from Murida in Cuncolim.

Camillo migrated to Qatar in 2000 in search of “opportunities”, and since then, has not just made a name for himself, but his son too is now among the best teenage players in Qatar.

Source: Times of India

CHANDIGARH, (PTI): Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Tuesday launched a scholarship scheme to give monthly stipend to sportspersons who bag first three positions in national competitions.

Hayer said a new sports policy will also be launched by the state government, under which sportspersons winning medals in international events will be recruited directly by creating a special cadre under the Sports Department.

The government will also launch a health insurance scheme for sportspersons, he said addressing the media here.

Launching the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Scholarship Scheme, he said the Punjab players who bag first three positions in sports events at senior national championships will be given Rs 8,000 per month for one year.

Similarly, junior national medal players will be given Rs 6,000 per month, said Hayer, adding that the stipend will continue if they again win medals after one year.

The late hockey legend’s daughter Sushbir Kaur hailed the announcement of the state government.

”The Punjab government’s such efforts will surely bring positive results,” Kaur told PTI.

The minister said an annual budget of Rs 12.50 crore has been reserved by the department for this scheme, claiming that Punjab is the first state in the country which will give stipend to sportspersons.

Apart from providing sports equipment to players, new coaches will be recruited at a large scale, said the minister. The diet stipend of day scholar players has been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 125 per day and those of players residing in hostels has been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 225, he said.

Replying to a question, Hayer said, ”We are coming up with a new sports policy and trying to create a separate sports cadre under the Sports Department.” ”Sportspersons who bring medals in international events can be recruited directly,” he said.

Giving diet, coaching, sports equipment, jobs and cash prizes to players will be key factors of the policy, he said. He said the Sports Department will soon hire 220 new coaches to boost sports activity in the state. (PTI)