Teenage footballers to attend Arsenal’s training camp

KOLKATA - Sixteen talented youngsters will get a chance to attend a training camp at English Premier League side Arsenal’s facility in Britain.

The 16 will be chosen from among 32 budding footballers from across the country now undergoing training here under the supervision of Arsenal coaches - Paul Shipwright and Kurt Maginley.

These footballers were identified from the zonal finals of a countrywide tournament by Jamshid Nassiri, head scout, with an objective to discover promising kids exhibiting exceptional talent in the game.

The children aged 10-15 years, will be trained in two sessions by the Arsenal coaches up to June 10.

“At the end of this training camp, 16 boys displaying outstanding soccer skills will be shortlisted by us,” Shipwright said Wednesday.

“The 16 who make the cut will be given further training and an opportunity to attend Arsenal training camp in the UK as well as entry to the much-awaited Arsenal International Soccer Festival in London in August 2009. The selected boys will also get Arsenal memorabilia personally autographed by the teams star players,” he said.

Organised by Tata Tea, the tournament provides the youngsters access to unparalleled training programmes including the customised Arsenal development programme called The Arsenal Way.

The tournament that started Nov 26 last year happened in phases across ten cities - Kozhikode, Bangalore, Goa, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, and Shillong - with each city having its own elimination rounds, culminating in national finals.