Training in Kolkata suits CUK

LEAD_35.jpg.crop_display.jpg

Chirag United Kerala management has decided to fly the boys out of base for the IFA Shield slated to begin in Kolkata on March 3 after having given a pass to the E. K. Nayanar Gold Cup scheduled in Kozhikode.

The team will be flying to Kolkata on March 1 and resume training for the prestigious tourney at the SAI ground close to the Salt Lake Stadium under their new technical director Biswajit Bhattacharya.

“Yes, we will take part in the IFA Shield,” said Rana Bandyopadhyay, vice president of Chirag Computers and owners of the club. “There are far better grounds in Kolkata and our boys will enjoy training there,” he said.

The Chirag management had thought it wise to skip the Gold Cup for fear of adding a few more to the string of injuries the squad has had.

Their initial action plan was to get the team in shape for their crucial home game against Shillong on March 24.

The Kolkata-based owners had conceded after the controversial sacking of Nizam Packeer Ali that they would not be shifting base under any circumstance. However, they are nonetheless happy with Kerala, as is amply proved by the recent developments.

“We are concerned about the safety of the players as the grounds here are not good for training. Our priority is going for wins in the last seven games, but for that we need proper practice sessions, and that’s not be possible here,” said Rana.

The team’s first session under Biswajit was on the Maharaja’s College Ground and the muddy surface was not worthy of a ball game. Also, the international stadium in Kochi, their designated home, is not playable for now, due to the work on sprinklers.

So, it’s rather a forced move (for training) to Kolkata and not a permanent relocation, as a feeling of skepticism is getting spread like the dengue among fans of the club here. “If we played the Nayanar Cup and could not do well, it will be counter-productive, as it occurs at home,” said Rana. “We need to boost the morale of the boys and there’s not much time,” he said. It is also learnt that the Chirag will be playing two practice matches against foreign teams, one of it from Nigeria.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/129535" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;cite&gt; &lt;code&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;dl&gt; &lt;dt&gt; &lt;dd&gt;</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-410bb3232af7123e60b348ba6c9e0f55" value="form-410bb3232af7123e60b348ba6c9e0f55" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="85669538" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.