The original FIFA world cup trophy arrived at the football Capital of India - Kolkata this afternoon by a charterd flight from Canada.Now it's waiting in a City Hotel with a strong Security.The cup will be inaugurated by Former skipper of the 1990 FIFA World Cup-winning German Lothar Mathhaus tomorrow at a city hotel.A press meet will be held regarding this on 11.30 AM tomorrow at the Hotel Ball room.

The Great Wall Cup of Beijing is an international youth football tournament at age u-14/u-16/u-18 for boys and u-18 girls age group will be held at Beijing Olypmic Center football park on July 25th to 31th in 2010.

Since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game, China becomes a popular sports destination to the world sports tourism. “To establish an international youth football tournament annually in Beijing and provide young people from all over the world a stadge to enjoy the fantastic game of football with a great Chinese culture experience is the goal of this tournament.”says by Mr.Yang, the director of Beijing Football Federation.

The first year of this tournament is going to invite teams from Australia, Korea, Japan, USA, Canada, Holland, Spain, South Africa,India and other countries and host teams from China. Besides the game, the participating teams will attend culture events such as learn basic Chinese, Kung Fu, and also will visit the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and experience the life and culture of China. U-18 Boys will play with Ball size No 5 as 40-10-40 time scheduled.There will be a Programme name "show your Talent without football" .Every team will prepare a show and performance it in front everyone. It could be a song, a dance, or any whatever you think its the best. Let's share the different culture and enjoy the moment.

Day 2   Saturday  July 24   - Arrival of teams in Beijing, China

Day 3   Sunday   July 25   - Great Wall Cup of Beijing tournament start.Opening Ceremony

Day 4   Monday   July 26   - Games and Tours

Day 5   Tuesday   July 27   - Games and Tour

Day 6   Wednesday   July 28   - Rest day from football. The Great Wall Trip

Day 7   Thursday   July 29  - Great Wall Cup of Beijing - Semi Finals

Day 8   Friday   July 30  - Great Wall Cup of Beijing - Finals and Closing Banquet

Day 9   Saturday   July 31 - Departure day or take optional tour in other cities of China

Togo’s media officer, Stanislas Ocloo, assistant coach, Amalete Abalo, and the Angolan driver of the squad bus were killed in the gunshot on Friday. Togo’s reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale was in a stable condition in a South African hospital yesterday after having surgery.

Togo had been due to play with Ghana in their coming match in the tournament but after the decision of the withdrawal of their name the group seems to have three teams in it with caused an unusual fixture of the tournament. The President of the CAF (Confederation of African Football) Issa Hayatou argued that the Angolan government had promised to make the security tighten enough in all the venues to host the tournament peacefully.

28 January, 2010   Winners of Match 23   Match 27  Winners of Match 24

Mr Madhav Chandra, former Minister in the High Commision of India in London, who was appointed as High Commissioner to Botswana handed over the donations to Mr Shaw Kgathi Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture in Gaborone.Mr Chandra expressed that,the donation will help in the development of sports in Botswana.

Before three days official visit of Indian Vice President Mr. Mohammed Hamid to Botswana the said donation was made.Mr Shaw Kgathi told that, the said donatios surely will boost the cooperation that exists between the two countries and will be of great benefit to those in constituency tournaments.He also assured the high commissioner of India,that the equipment would be used for Spots development at grassroots level and will be used by the in-school and out of school youth in the constituency.

He highlighted that all 57 constituencies in Botswana are participating in the tournament where more than 1100 Football teams will play.

The announcement came as the club announced pre-tax profits of £48.2m for the year to 30 June 2009, compared with a loss of £21.4m a year ago.

The profit includes the £80m fee the club received from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo last summer.

US businessman Malcolm Glazer bought the club for £790m in 2005, borrowing heavily to do so.

Group turnover rose to £278.5m from £256.2m the previous year, the club's holding company Red Football Ltd said.

There has been much speculation in recent weeks that United was considering a bond issue to address its debts.

Although no total debt figure was disclosed in the results announcement, it has previously been reported as £699m.

The Old Trafford club paid £41.9m in interest on a £509.5m loan.

Without the sale of Ronaldo, United would have reported a loss of £31.8m, despite winning the English Premier League for the third year in a row, as well as the Carling Cup and the Club World Cup last season.

The team also finished runners up in the Uefa Champions League.

Last week, United's big-spending neighbours Manchester City reported an annual loss of £92.6m after splashing out on top-class players since new owner Sheikh Mansour bought the club in September 2008.

Current Premier League leaders Chelsea made a loss of £44.4m last year but said it was now "virtually debt-free".

Courtesy:news.bbc.co.uk

The tournament first began in 1941, and was the premier football competition in the country before the National Football League started in the year 1996. The trophy as named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, which is now in Bangladesh, who had been the President of the Indian Football Association(IFA - West Bengal).The runners-up trophy, Kamla Gupta Trophy, was also donated by the IFA.

In the present format of Santosh Trophy, there is a qualifying round involving 8 clusters of 3 or 4 teams each. The 8 winners from each cluster are then drawn along with 4 seeded teams, who do not have to come through qualifying, and these 12 teams are then divided into 4 groups of 3 each. This is the quarterfinal league stage, in which each of the 3 teams in the group play each other. The winners of each group then move to the semifinals. The semifinals and the final.

It has been learnt that AIFF may change some of their Santosh Trophy rules from next year means 2011.No Indian Sr. National Team Footballer can participate in this Tournament and The Tournament will be played as Zonal basis first then Final Round like Fed Cup and other Age group National level Tournaments.

In the beginning Mahindra started with aggressive game plan but the visitors soon took the control of the match. In the first half Sporting enjoyed the majority possession. As a result in the 43rd minute of the first half Elija Junior scored a fine goal to put Sporting Club de Goa ahead in the match.

In the second half the boys of David Booth came out with more determinant performance and Mahindra started to play all out football in search of an equalizer but the well organised Sporting defence again and again denied the opportunities of the home team. Till 86th minute Sporting players successfully protected their goal. But the home team never gave up hope and as the award of their determination and fighting spirit in the 87th minute ultimately Thoi Singh leveled the scoreline by scoring the vital equalizer. But still the final surprise was yet to come and in the last minute of the regulation time by surprising everyone from a decent corner of Steven Dias through a fine header Paresh Shivalkar scored the winning goal for Mahindra United.

With this vital I-League win Mahindra bettered their position in the league table. On the other hand another close defeat brought nothing but total disappointment for Sporting Club de Goa as they still remains in the bottom position of the league table.

Behind Mahindra’s today’s victory Sushant Mathew played a significant role and thus he was selected as the Man of the Match.

MU:Thoi Singh 87',Paresh Shivalkar 90':: SCG:Elija Junior 43'
M.O.M : Susanth Mathew (MU)

FT: Mahindra United has got full points. Upto 86 minutes of the match they were trailing by 0 - 1. 90': Wonderful come back by Mahindra in the match.In last Five minutes they scored two goals.
89': GOALLLLLLLL Mahindra scored again. Paresh Shivalkar scored.Again Steven's well corner from right side..Pares's flick header went to the goal.
87': Wonderful cross by Seven from the right flank. Thoi Singh's brilliant header went to net.
87':GOALLLLLLLL ..Thoi sigh scored for Mahindra ..
86': Thoi Singh shown Yellow card for bad tackle.
83': Another oppertunity missed by Sporting. Joseph passed to Steven Fernandez in right.Open area but his shot went away out side the post.
79': Player Chnge for Mahindra. Denzil Franco out and K.Thoi singh came in his place.Still Sporting is leading by 1-0.
62': Player change of Mahindra. Muritala Ali out and Me. Rafi came in his place.
60': Junior's effort in the Mahindra Box. but referee called it was offside.
52':Muritala well effort.Steven took a free kick. well kick and Muritala's header just went away over the bar.
50': Michael Tayo was slightly injured in his head while to prevent a Free kick of Ajayan out side their own box.
Half Time: It's now the time for lemon break. Sporting Goa is leading 1 - 0 ( Elija Junior scored ).
43': Good Goal. Free Kick was taken by Chinta. Mahindra defence unable to clear the ball properly. Junior was in front of Box.received the deflected ball and pushed to the net cleverly.
43': GOALLLLLL. Elija Junior Scored for Sporting.
41': Amos-Jiseph-Junior. Ball colledted by Subhasish well.
39': Well attack from right side by SCG. Bishwashar Singh to Amos.Entered in the box.Amos. shot cleared by Ajyan trhough corner. No damage done in corner.
35': Good ball crontroll by Elija. He is Trying hard to score.
33': Sushil shingh of Mahindra got a chance to score.. his close ranger went away.
28': Amos of SCG got an one to one situation but he kicked outside of net.
26': Brilliant shot of Junior just outside the box.received a right side cross of Chinta..Junior's right footer well saved by Subhasish.
24' Long ranger of Muritala Ali. Well gripped by SCG keeper Luis Barreto.
23': Well effort of Junir. His shot saved by Subhasish.
22': Hand ball of SCG in there area. Mahindra got a free kick.. Sushil kick went away.
20':Ball is in Mahindra defence.. SCG is playing mostly from left wing..Amos and Junior duo are playing well.
17':Well cleared by SCG defence.. Muritala passed to Steven on the left.
10': SCG got a great oppertunity. Amos closer shot went away.
7': No score yet. Mahindra got a corner.Steven Dias corner.too long.

He told that,the incident took place in Angola and South Africa's preparations to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup will not affect for that.He also told taht 'We also cannot compare organisation and security in Angola with South Africa because Africa was not one country but a continent made up of 53 countries all very different and all with very different histories and political situations.

Africa have successfully hosted three successful Fifa events in the last eight months - the Fifa Confederations Cup in South Africa and the u/17 in Nigeria and u/19 World Cup in Egypt."

The Togo Football Federation was considering pulling out of the Africa Nations Cup in Angola on Saturday after their national team's bus came under machine gun fire, which left the bus driver dead and at least two players injured.

But FIFA strongly condemned the attack on Togo National team Bus.Mkhondo also confident about success of FIFA World Cup.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday he had confidence in Africa and the continent's ability to organize this year's World Cup despite Friday's attack on the Togo team bus at the Nations Cup finals in Angola.Blatter said in a letter to African Football Confederation (CAF) president Issa Hayatou.

With the kick off East Bengal organised the early attacks but could not cause any early harm to Chirag. As the match continued Chirag started to fight back in the match but still in the first half East Bengal built up majority attacks. Both the teams tried to play tough football and as a result number of fouls committed in the first half. In 23rd minute Mehtab was dangerously brought down by Arnab Mondal and that could have been a penalty but Chirag got a narrow escape as the referee overlooked the situation In spite of repeated demand of the East Bengal players referee did not pay attention to that event. As both the teams failed to convert their chances the scoreboard remained 0-0 in the half time.

In the second half Subrata Bhattacharya’s boys developed their game and created more opportunities. In the 66th minute Edmilson was brought down by Abhra Mondal within the penalty box and Edmilson put his team ahead in the match by converting the penalty into a goal. In rest of the time East Bengal tried everything in search of an equalizer but this was not Rider’s day as the players like Yakubu and Hammond wasted numbers of close opportunities. Finally the match ended with 1-0 score in favour of Chirag United and with this victory Chirag again moved to the 2nd position in the league table.

Because of his worthy performance in today’s match Denson Devdas was awarded as the Man of the Match.

In Ludhiana in their home ground JCT suffered a 1-2 defeat against Pune F.C. The visitors opened the scoreline as early as in the 8th minute but in the 35th minute Penn Orji scored the equalizer for JCT but finally in the 41st minute of the match Edmar scored the winning goal for Pune F.C. Edmar was also the M.O.M of the match.

Whereas Dempo registered a crushing 3-1 defeat over Air-India. Though Opara opened the scoreline for Air-India in the 15th minute but Climax Lawrence scored the equalizer in the 18th minute. In 35th minute by scoring another goal Sunil Chhetri put Dempo in the lead and finally in the 79th minute Abranches increased the lead by adding another goal to the tally. Climax Lawrence was selected the M.O.M.

Some players said they wanted to pull out of the African Cup of Nations tournament following the violence, but an official in Angola said it would go ahead as planned. Togo soccer federation vice president Gabriel Ameyi said substitute goalkeeper Obilale Kossi and central defender Serge Akakpo were among those hurt.Akapao who joined the Romanian club from Auxerre last year, was hit by two bullets and lost a lot of blood but was now out of danger.But The team's top player, Emmanuel Adebayor, was unharmed, according to his club Manchester City.

Togo, which played at the 2006 World Cup, did not qualify for this year's tournament in South Africa.The 16-team African championship starts Sunday in Angola, with Togo due to play its opening match on Monday against Ghana in Cabinda.

Togo captain Adebayor told the BBC that "Most of the players want to go back to their family and a lot of players want to leave "because they have seen their death already.We will make a decision which is good for our life"

Claude Leroy, a former Cameroon and Ghana coach, said African soccer authorities now had to decide whether to play the tournament.

It was the second major gun attack on a sports team in less than a year. Several players were injured and six policemen were killed when gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Lahore, Pakistan, in March 2009.

With the kick off in Vidyasagar Krirangan, Barasat the visitors established early dominance in the match and as soon as in the 9th minute of the match Odafe put the visitors ahead in the match by scoring the opening goal. After conceiving an early goal the home team tried to fight back in the match and in the 32nd minute of the match from a well directed cross of Marcos Bareto scored the equalizer for Mohun Bagan. Just before the half time Marcos missed a close opportunity of scoring and therefore the first half ended with 1-1 scoreline.

At the end of the match few unwanted events have been taken place as one of the spectators threw piece of rock to the field and by deflecting on the Churchill reserve bench in hit at the back of Kalu and suddenly Churchill keeper Arindam ran to the gallery to catch that particular man and a chaos has been created. Police appeared to the situation and rescued Arindam from the public stand and guarded him to the team bus safely. Though a number of Mohun Bagan fans started shouting against Churchill players but the police handled the situation in strong hands and thus the chaos could not take a further harmful shape.

As part of the celebrations, plans have also been drawn to have an exclusive showcase.From 15th - 17th Jan, in these three days FIFA Trophy tour at the Football Capital of India includes extravagant evening of music and entertainment by Bangla Music Band Chandrabindoo Bangla Band, and a concert by Euphoria, India's popular rock band.

The Fans of the Football of Kolkata will get an opportunity to see the real FIFA World Cup Trophy for the first time. In-addition, the chance to see the football legend Lothar Herbert Matthaus in person. Probably he will arrive at the City of Football on 14th then meet the press at Hyat Hotel at Salt Lake on 15th and will present at Salt Lake Stadium on 16th and 17th.

Kolkata - the Football Capital of India saw Pele in 1977, Oliver Khan 2007 and Maradona in 2008 and now will see 47-year-old Lothar Mathhaus,who was named European Footballer of the Year and World Soccer Player of the Year after captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 World Cup and first ever FIFA World Player of the Year in 1991. He has played in five World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 and holds the record for the most World Cup matches played 25 games.He also won Euro 80, and played in Euro 84, Euro 88, and Euro 2000.

He started his coaching career at Rapid Vienna in Austria then moved to Serbian side FK Partizan, with whom he won the 2002-03 domestic title. In December 2003, Matthaus left Partizan to become head coach of the Hungarian national team. His goal was to bring the former soccer superpower to the 2006 World Cup. But Hungary failed to advance from 'A' group which included Sweden, Croatia and Bulgaria.

Then Matthaus left Hungary and joined Brazilian Premier League 1st Divn Team Atletico Paranaense for coaching. But unsuccess Matthaus then joined as head coach in Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg and helped the team to the 2006-07 title along with Giovanni Trapattoni as director of football. But in April 2008 he was sacked after the season signed as a coach of Israeli team Maccabi Netanya of Tel Aviv for the 2008-09 season.

Central Civil Aviation minister Mr. Praful Patel, who replaced ailing Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi as the AIFF President in October last year.

The footballers of the entire team have stood behind the three accused and rubbished the airlines’ claim of molestation charges although the airlines staff and some of the passengers on board have vouched for the incident having really taken place. The players have even called for CCTV footage as proof of the incident although to everyone’s knowledge there is no such facility of recording incidents inside an airplane. The CISF personnel initially deplaned and detained the footballers for questioning but later allowed the entire team to travel to Kolkata after the three accused were granted bail.

The act has downgraded the image of the sports fraternity and an AIFF spokesman, has indicated that this act of the trio has tarnished the image of Indian football and stern action will be taken if the players were found guilty during the course of investigation.

There is also news, though unconfirmed, that the sponsors of Churchill Brothers, who had been recently roped in are contemplating withdrawal of sponsorship support. Kerala based pharmaceutical company, Kunnath Pharmaceuticals, now sponsor the Club for Rs. 9 crores and for which the Club is now showcased as Musli Power Churchill Brothers. The MD of the pharmaceutical company is reviewing the situation and will be meeting the Churchill boss (Alemao Churchill) to discuss the fate of the tie-up in the aftermath of this incident.

It is highly unlikely that the airhostess will get justice (if the incident had really taken place) as the Club owners, Joaquim and Churchill Alemao have tremendous clout in the political circles and could abort and suppress any proper investigation. This is in keeping with similar such incidents having taken place very recently as also their utterances post the incident.

Thus a crucial I-League encounter is going to take place on Thursday between the two semi-finalists of the Federation Cup. Despite the events of Tuesday Churchill can come out tomorrow with the full strength as Arindam, Kalu and Odafe have already got their bails in the molestation case.

Whereas Mohun Bagan have to play against Churchill without the dependable defenders like Deepak Mondal and N.S. Manju.Dipak picked up his injury in the Fed Cup semifinal and Manju was injured during national duty in Nehru Cup.Not only that Karim Also miss Manish Maithai, Branco, and Snehasish Chakrabarty in the vital I league encounter tomorrow.

But Mohun Bagan will definitely come out with certain home advantage. Currently in the I-League table Churchill is standing at the top with 16 points and Mohun Bagan is now at the 5th place with 13 points. As both the teams are in close position in the title race so tomorrow’s encounter will be a valuable one.

Mohun Bagan lost to Churchill Brothers 0 - 2 in the final of 114th IFA shield in 2009.The 18-member team for tomorrow's match of Mohun Bagan is: Sangram, Shilton, Zenith, Surkumar, Rakesh, Mandi, Azim, Biswajit, Kuluthungan, Marcos, Sueoka, Subhojit, James, Tomba, Ishfaq, Chiddi, Barreto and Suraj.

Iran qualified to the finals when they beat Singapore 3-1 in away match and also secure the top spot in group 'E'. The other match between the other two teams in the group Thailand and Jordan ended in a 0-0 draw.

Thailand, Singapore and Jordan still have a chance to clinch a spot at the finals depending on their results in the final day of the qualifying stage on March 3rd, which will see Iran will face Thailand and Jordan against Singapore in Amman.

China drew with Syria 0-0 at their penultimate AFC Asian Cup qualifier in Group D at the Yellow Dragon Sports Center here on Wednesday. Syria Already qualified to the finals.Syria kept topping Group D with 11 points. After opening up a 5-points gap from third placed Vietnam who could only drew 1-1 away with Lebanon.

In Sana'a, Japan survived and early scare before beating Yemen 3-2 to secure one of the top two spots in Group A.The east Asian giants and World Cup Team found themselves two goals down after just 38 minutes, but the FC Tokyo striker Sota Hirayama reduced the margin in three minutes before the break, then levelled the score ten minutes in second half, before completing his hat-trick in the 79th minute.

2 – Iraq (2007 Asian Cup champions)

3 – Saudi Arabia (2007 Runner-ups)

4 – South Korea (2007 Third-placed)

5 – India (2008 AFC Challenge Cup Champions)

6 – Uzbekistan (Group C)

7 – Syria (Group D)

8 – China (Group D)

9 – Iran (Group E)

10 – Japan (Group A)

11 – ???? (2010 AFC Challenge Cup champions)

12 – ???? (Group A – Japan or Bahrain or Yemen)

13 – ???? (Group B – Australia or Kuwait or Oman)

14 – ???? (Group B – Australia or Kuwait or Oman)

15 – ???? (Group C – UAE or Malaysia)

16 – ???? (Group E – Thailand or Singapore or Jordan)

ESPN 3D will showcase a minimum of 85 live sporting events during its first year, beginning June 11 with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match, featuring South Africa versus Mexico, ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer announced.

Other events to be produced in 3-D include the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, college basketball and football contests, up to 25 World Cup matches and the Summer X Games. Additional events will be announced at a later date.

"ESPN's commitment to 3-D is a win for fans and our business partners," Bodenheimer said in a statement. "ESPN 3D marries great content with new technology to enhance the fan's viewing experience and puts ESPN at the forefront of the next big advance for TV viewing."

ESPN has been testing ESPN 3D for more than two years, even showing a USC-Ohio State college football game in select theaters and to 6,000 fans at the Galen Center on USC's campus.

"This is a turning point for 3-D," Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro told USA Today.

Courtesy: sports.espn.go.com

He was among the 20 boys and 6 girls selected from the South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenge 2009 tournament held at the Cooperage Stadium to attend the camp conducted by QPR coaches in Mumbai.

Hussain Vahanvaty, has been the PIFA Skills Contest winner and won a 10 day camp to PIFA International camp 2008 held in London, he has also played for India U14.

After a long wait of almost two years and three months East Bengal finally became the champion of a major tournament of Indian Football.With the Federation Cup championship title East Bengal also qualified to play in the upcoming edition of the AFC Cup.East Bengal will play Group D along with Al Nejmeh (Lebanon), Qadsia (Kuwait) and Al Ittihad (Syria) in AFC Cup. So it is the time of the double celebration for the East Bengal fans today.

From airport the East Bengal team came to the Club at 4 PM afternoon,surrounded by huge number of fans and supporters and their coach Phillip de Rider hosted the Red and Gold flag high up with its pride and glory. The hero of the Federation Cup final goalkeeper Abhra Mondal was the centre figure of the celebration.

The atmosphere of joy and celebration finally returned to East Bengal after a long gap. Now the East Bengal supporters are again start of dreaming for their favorite club and they urged to Coach Rider that now they want to look East Bengal also as the champions of the I-League.

With the kick off in the final encounter today both the teams started with attacking moves but the defenses of both the teams started to play with utmost confidence. Though in the first half both East Bengal and Shillong Lajong created number of opportunities but both the teams failed to capitalize even a single chance and thus the score remained 0-0 in the first half.

In the second half East Bengal showed much urgency and they built up certain well-organized attacks in fact in the 57th minute of the match East Bengal got a golden opportunity but in that occasion the header of Rahim Nabi missed the net with minimum distance. Lajong also organized certain effective counters and Tuboi missed a very close opportunity to put his team ahead. In 66th minute of the match Bhaichung came out on the field in place of Rahim Nabi but due to the fine coverage of Lajong defenders Bhaichung could not make any difference in the game. After the usual time the match ended with 0-0 scoreline and therefore the match advanced to the extra time.

In the both halfs of extra time both the teams failed to make any difference in the scoreline and therefore the match progressed to the tiebreaker with the 0-0 scoreline.

The penalty shoot out completely belonged to the East Bengal keeper Abhra Mondal as the saved three respective Lajong penalties and give the trophy to his team. In 25th October 2009 Abhra Mondal was the keeper under the East Bengal goal who conceded 5 goals from Mohun Bagan as the first ever East Bengal keeper but he did not give up his energy and determination and today with the valuable suggestions of coach Rider Abhra proved his worth for East Bengal.

Abhra not just only saved all three Lajong penalties in the tiebreaker but in the entire tournament Abhra did not concede even a single goal. So this edition of the Federation Cup not just only re-established East Bengal as the Champions but also gifted a new hero to the Club; Abhra Mondal. On the other hand Shillong Lajong though ended as the Runner-up but the boys of Stanley Rosario won the heart of the Indian soccer fans with their memorable fighting performances throughout the tournament.

ONLINE UPDATES

KF East Bengal   0 - 0 , 3 - 0 (Pen)   Shillong Lajong F.C    ( FT.. )

03 January

'STRIKER' Moti Nandi no more..

by :Subhransu Roy | Kolkata

Sports scribe and writer Moti Nandy no more.The veteran sports journalist died today at 2.45 AM in a vlocal Nurshing home at Belghoria, kolkata. Yesterday He was admitted to the Nurshing home when he felt seriously ill. Moti Nandi is a Bengali writer based in Kolkata, India. He was born in Kolkata on July 10, 1931. He is an alumnus of the University of Calcutta. He worked as Sports Editor for Anandabazar Patrika. Veteran journalist and author Moti Nandi was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at a glittering ceremony to mark the grand finale of the maiden edition of the Excellence in Journalism Awards 2008. He is noted for his depiction of sporting events and many of his protagonists are sportspersons.He first wrote story in Desh weekly on 1957. He first wrote for Pujabarshiki in Parichoy Magazine on 1985. His sports character Kolaboti becomes very popular to the younger audience. One of his novels, Koni, was filmed with Soumitra Chatterjee in one of the lead roles.

Awards

1974 : Ananda Purashkar 1991 : Sahitya Akademi Award (Novel Sada Kham) Some Best Works Koni(Ananda Pub.) Aloukik Dilu(Ananda Pub.) Stopper(Ananda Pub.) Striker(Ananda Pub.) Kuronn(Ananda Pub.) Jibon Ananta(Ananda Pub.) Nnaran(Ananda Pub.) Feraari(Ananda Pub.) Tulsi(Ananda Pub.) Dolbodoler Aage(Ananda Pub.) Biswa-jora Biswacup(Ananda Pub.) Buro Ghora(Ananda Pub.) Kolaboti o Millenium Match (Ananda Pub.) Kolabotir Shaktishel(Ananda Pub.)

Asian Football Confederation ‘C’ coaching certificate organized by the All India Football Federation in association with the Pondicherry Football Association commenced on 30th December, 2009 with Mr. Gabriel E Joseph the Director of Coaching, All India Football Federation as the Course Instructor.

The Secretary of the Pondicherry Football Association Mr. V. Balasubramaniam inaugurated the course on 30th December, 2009 that will continue upto 14th January, 2010. Tne participants are from Pondicherry , Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. They are M/s V. Virasaravannane, V. Murugan, G. Ranjit, A. Joseph Raj, K. Suresh, K.Balamurgan, P. Santhoshkumar, M. Lucien, V. Vinothkumar, P. Arun, G. Raja, A. Jasen, R. Sivakumar, C. Yuvaraj, P. Saravanan, Noah Augustine Rozario, Thoppil Dasan Jayan, Ebin Rose. D, Manoj Kumar, and C. Suresh kumar.

The practical sessions are being conducted at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Pondicherry while the the theoretical classes are conducted in the conference hall of the Lion’s Club, Pondicherry . Technology that was being used by Mr Gabriel E Joseph with the help of the expert I.T. support person Mr. Charles.G.J is giving ample opportunity for the participants to improve themselves as their practical session activities are captured through the video and shown in the screen every day in the theoretical classes besides guiding for the the use of technology for the technical tactical work to be carried out in the field.

During the period of the course the participants will have to undergo three practical and three theoretical examinations. Besides Football other related topics covered are the laws of the game, nutrition, physiology, hygine, sports safety and first aid and advantage of technology in the field.