NEWS and PRESS RELEASE
Maradona pays homage to Mother Teresa, meets Jyoty Basu
maradona-jyotibasu
07.12.2008
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“This is the second biggest reception of my life after Napoli,” said Maradona on
kolkata TV channel interview, as he described his two-day visit to Football mad
Kolkata which is called the football capital of india. He confirmed that his idol
Cuban President Castro now is in good health.
Accompanied by his girl friend Veronica Estefani, Maradona paid homage at the
tomb of Mother Teresa and spent half an hour at Mother house, the global
headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity founded by the Mother Teresa who
dedicated her life to work among the poor, dying and aged.
. He lit a candle at Mother's tomb, participated in a prayer session with the sisters
of the order, and shook hands with the orphan children to fulfil a wish he has
nurtured for years. "I wanted to see what Mother Teresa has done in this city "
Maradona had said on Saturday.
Missionaries of Chairty Superior General Sister Nirmala presented him a book
containing the experience of some of those who have worked with the Mother
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After a break The soccer legend has taken to Indira Bhavan - Salt Lake, the residence of
veteran Marxist leader and former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu.
Maradona shook hands with the veteran leader and sat next to him and exchanged
a few words.The Legend Indian Communist leder Mr. Basu welcomed the World
Soccer legend by presenting a bouquet and showed him a photo album that had a
few pictures showing Castro and Basu standing side by side, which was taken in
1973 when the former Cuban president paid a visit to the city of Joy - Kolkata.
Maradona told Mr. Basu with the help of an interpreter that, “Fidel Castro is my
friend. Anybody who is Castro's friend is my friend. So Jyoti Basu is my friend.”
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Maradona and his ten-minute magic in Mohun Bagan Club
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07.12.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:As Maradona bids goodbye to Kolkata he gave his fans one last chance of catching his
showstopping action in Mohun Bagan Athletic's club ground.After the Salt Lake fiasco
were people hardly got a chance to see Diego.
Today in the stadium of National Club of India there dream was fulfilled.Kudos to
the Club Management which is well guided by President Tutu Bose and General
Secretary Anjan Mitra who made this dream possible for those fans.It was said to be
a football clinic where he was said to be felicitated by Mohun Bagan and Bhawanipore
Club.Baichung Bhutia,Karim Bencherifa and all the other club players were present in
this auspicious occasion.
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Maradona was in the Club stadium for 10 minutes and he did what a Movie Star
would failed to do in 10 minutes.Maradona ran straight into the ground. After shaking
hands warmly with budding Sub Junior players,he took us all down the memory lane
and demonstrated his sublime ball-control skills in the middle of the field .He
juggled the ball with his left foot, balanced it on his forehead, rolled it on to
his shoulder and then kicked those ball towards the 14,000-strong crowd in the
Bagan gallerie in all directions who felt as if they were catching the God's
feet.Maradona kicked as many as 25 balls towards the fans.
As Maradona left the field
he did so in style waving his hands towards the crowd,giving them flying kisses and
banging his chest."10 minutes but worth every minute of that two-hour wait in the
queue," said a fan while coming out the Bagan ground.
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IBIEN VENIDO,DIEGO!!!!!
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06.12.2008 : :Abhishek Bhattacharyya & Shilarze Saha Roy:Kolkata
couldn’t
have expected more than this.The year 2008 is perhaps one of the best chapters
in the history of Indian Football in terms of performance and the visit of Oliver
Kahn and Bayern Munich in May and now the visit of football legend Diego
Armando Maradona will always be remembered when the titans of football came,
saw and conquered our hearts and made us proud of our city which is the capital
of Indian football.
It was a dream come true for football fans in Kolkata who has been worshipping
Maradona over 25 years now.Over the years they have chased him in their dream
but the actual chase began last night when he landed in Dumdum Airport and
took the shape of madness in Salt Lake Stadium today.This madness is actually
love.Love for their hero who has come all the way from Argentina were football is
life and football is perhaps everything.
Salt Lake Stadium was packed up by more than 1 lakh people today and Diego’s
speech bears testimony to the fact that he felt like he was in his home were he
can feel the same passion and madness of the fans.When Maradona entered the
stadion with a car the crowd burst out in thundering ovation shouting for there
hero and their hero gave them back the same love that they have offered to him.
People have come from all places of the country to catch a glimpse of Diego and
some were surely very happy and some dissatisfied by the fact that they hardly
got any chance to catch a glimpse of their magic man.
The programme started by keeping a minute silence for the victims of terror attack
in Mumbai.As Maradona entered the stadion people kept the sadness aside as
they welcomed Diego by saying-Ibien Venido!!….The don of football raised his
hands and waved it to the crowd and also not to forget his flying kiss. “I had no
idea that football enjoyed so much fan following in this part of the world, so far
from my home in South America . After end of my contract with Argentina ,
I would like to help Indian soccer.I want to come back again with my family to
enjoy Kolkata”.Maradona was completely mobbed by the media personnel which
perhaps forced the organizers to curtail the programme fixture.Maradona couldn’t
move an inch as the camera personnel kept on irritating him like the buzzing
sound of a honey bee.
But no one could stop Diego as he went in the middle of the field and exhibited his
juggling skills in front of the players who participated in the beneficiary match
that pitted Chief Minister’s XI against External Affairs Minister’s XI who won the
match 1-0 courtesy an own goal from Chief Minister’s XI.
Before the start of the match and during the lemon break around 400 young
players were inside the pitch wearing the jersey of Argentinian National Team
showing their individual skills.Talking about individual skills Uttam Das wooed
Maradona with his juggling skills.The fans were unstoppable as one of the fans
just escaped security and came upto Diego to touch his feet.Diego gave him an
ufforgetteble hug.
In the end Maradona was felicitated with a memento from AIFF by Subroto Dutta
(Vice-President,AIFF) and not to forget the his own waxed statue which was
unveiled by him.The Golden Ball was presented to him from Bidhan Nagar Municipal
Corporation by Mr. Biswajiban Mazumdar.But sadly,Maradona had to leave the
stadion due to constant Media pressure as the Salt Lake fixture ended with a laser
show portraying his football career with the God of football being absent in this
occasion.
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Chief minister's XI
Nirmal Chettri,Saumik Dey,Jayanta Sen,Sunil Chettri,Parveen Kumar(
All East Bengal).
Sangram Mukherjee,Habibur Rahaman Mondol,Deepak Mondol,Anand Vasan ( All Mohun
Bagan).
Tharangachan -( GK ),Madhab Das,Mir Farooq Haider,Sovan Chakrabarty,Goutam
Thakur ( All Mohammedan S.C).
Dulal Biswas (Captain),Arindam Ghosh,Snehasish Chakrabarty,Sankar
Oraw ( All Chirag United).
Dipendu Biswas( George Telegraph)
Suraj Mondol( Railway F.C)
Coach:Shabbir Ali(Mohammedan S.C ) and Subrata Bhatacharyya(Chirag United)
Manager : Swapan Ball ( East Bengal)
External Affair's Minister XI
Subrata Paul(GK),Mehtab Hossain,Sanju Prodhan, Saheb Ali Ghorami( All East
Bengal)
N.S.Manju,Lalkamal Bhowmick, Lalam puia,Baichung Bhutia(Captain),Rakesh Masih ( All
Mohun Bagan)
Rajib Ghosh,SK.Azim,Aneet Ghosh,Basudeb Mondol( All Mohammedan S.C)
Sukhen Dey,Kingshuk Debnath,Gouranga Dutta , Dhanarajan ( All Chirag United)
Biswajit Saha,Swarup Das(GK),Subho Kumar (All George Telegraph)
Rakesh Prasad - GK ( Port Trust)
Coach:Karim Bencherifa(Mohun Bagan), Stanley Rozario ( East Bengal)
Manager : Debasish Dutta ( Mohun Bagan)
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Tremor in Kolkata for Maradona Fever ... he is comming
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03.12.2008 :Kolkata is going wild on the eve of football legend Diego Maradona’s
visit in the “City of Joy”. Just 48 hours more and the city will host soccer legend
Diego Maradona. Maradona is scheduled to arrive on y Saturday very early
mornning in Dum Dum Airport where he will be welcomed by estimated 15,000 or
more football fans.Meanwhile his two Managers Sebastian De Monte & Sebastian
Heinz has arrived in the city today evening and are making necessary
arrangements for Diego’s planned tour and are also checking up the whole security
arrangement.
On 3rd December the Argentina Football Association's official website has released
the tour programmes of Maradona to Kolkata. They said "The DT of the National
Team will participate in several activities in Calcutta, including the inauguration of
a soccer clinic and a charity dinner. He Will be received like a head of state.
The technical director of the National Team, Diego Armando Maradona, will travel
tomorrow at 14 to India to participate in various activities related to charities.
The former captain of the Argentine team, which will receive honors worthy of a
head of state, will remain in Calcutta until Sunday to come.
The welcome was given the IFS (Indian Football School), and among the scheduled
activities, Maradona will participate in a charity dinner where he auctioned some
items used by the player during his brilliant career, will visit the convent of Mother
Teresa and assist the inauguration of a soccer clinic ".
Buenos Aires, Dec. 3, 2008
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30.11.2008 : Ex Indian football Captain
Padmashree Chuni Goswami alongwith Santa Mitra, Bhaskar Ganguly and other
eminent Football personalities will inaugurate ticket sales counter for MARADONA
FELICITATION Ceremony at Salt Lake Stadium from 4.00 PM on 6th Dec and
they will autograph all tickets worth Rs. 1000 and 2000.The programme will start
at 12 Noon tomorrow, Venue at Netaji Indoor Stadium - Kolkata. The ticket price
Rs.50, Rs. 100, Rs 200, Rs 1000. & Rs. 2000.
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MARADONA MATCH :TEAM ANNOUNCED
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25.11.2008:Dulal Biswas of Chirag United and Baichung Bhutia of Mohun
Bagan will lead the Two Teams chief minister's xI and External Affair's Minister XI
respectively in the exhibition match to be played at Salt Lake Satadium on 6th
December when Super Star Diego Maradona's comes.They will play in presence of
MEGA FOOTBALL STAR" in the stadium.There are no foreign Footballers
in the team list .In a press meet today at CCFC ground IFA Secretary Utpal Kumar
Ganguly released the list.East Bengal Midfielder Alvito D Counha may be included
in one of the Teams.
Chief minister's XI
Nirmal Chettri,Saumik Dey,Jayanta Sen,Sunil Chettri,Parveen Kumar(
All East Bengal).
Sangram Mukherjee,Habibur Rahaman Mondol,Deepak Mondol,Anand Vasan ( All Mohun
Bagan).
Tharangachan -( GK ),Madhab Das,Mir Farooq Haider,Sovan Chakrabarty,Goutam
Thakur ( All Mohammedan S.C).
Dulal Biswas (Captain),Arindam Ghosh,Snehasish Chakrabarty,Sankar
Oraw ( All Chirag United).
Dipendu Biswas( George Telegraph)
Suraj Mondol( Railway F.C)
Coach:Shabbir Ali(Mohammedan S.C ) and Subrata Bhatacharyya(Chirag United)
Manager : Swapan Ball ( East Bengal)
External Affair's Minister XI
Subrata Paul(GK),Mehtab Hossain,Sanju Prodhan, Saheb Ali Ghorami( All East
Bengal)
N.S.Manju,Lalkamal Bhowmick, Lalam puia,Baichung Bhutia(Captain),Rakesh Masih ( All
Mohun Bagan)
Rajib Ghosh,SK.Azim,Aneet Ghosh,Basudeb Mondol( All Mohammedan S.C)
Sukhen Dey,Kingshuk Debnath,Gouranga Dutta , Dhanarajan ( All Chirag United)
Biswajit Saha,Swarup Das(GK),Subho Kumar (All George Telegraph)
Rakesh Prasad - GK ( Port Trust)
Coach:Karim Bencherifa(Mohun Bagan), Stanley Rozario ( East Bengal)
Manager : Debasish Dutta ( Mohun Bagan)
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Celebrity Management Group brings Maradona to Kolkata
10.11.2008: Kolkata will get to witness legendary Football Player and newly
appointed Technical Director of Argentinean National Football Team "DIEGO
ARMANDO MARADONA" who will visit the "FOOTBALL CAPITAL OF INDIA" Kolkata on
6th-7th December this Year.
In this connection a press meet was held at Netaji Indoor Stadium , Kolkata in
presence of Hon'ble Sports & Transport Minister of State Mr. Subhas Chakrabarty,
MP from Diamond Harbour Mr. Samik Lahiri, Executive Director of Celebrity
Management Group Mr. Bhawar Goswami alongwith few other eminent personalities.
Mr. Lahiri announced that, after arriving in the Football City on the night Dec 5th
Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona would lay the foundation stone of the
Indian Football School (IFS) at Nungi near Mahestala,Kolkata. Maradona will meet the press on 6th. He will be felicitated at
1,20,000 capacity Salt Lake Stadim, Kolkata by West Bengal Government and the
soccer fraternity alongwith some cultural programmes. He will also be visiting the
Missionaries of Charities global headquarter (MOTHERS' HOUSE) near Abdul Halim
Lane next day.
The Superman of World Football MARADONA will also open a Youth Football Clinic in the city and also participate
in a Fund Raising Dinner. An auction of memorabilia of Diego Maradona will also take
place.
West Bengal Sports and Transport Minister Mr. Subhas Chakraborty said the State
Government would play the role to felicitate Maradona at Salt Lake Stadium .
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soccer legend Diego Maradona to visit kolkata in December
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05.11.2008 : Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona would make a
short two-day trip to Kolkata in the first week of December.The newly appointed
Argentine coach would inaugrate the Indian Football School in Maheshtala, 13 km
south of the city.
The hero of Argentina’s 1986 World Cup victory is also scheduled to visit Mother
House, the global headquarters of Missionaries of Charity here, said Communist
Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) Lok Sabha member Samik Lahiri.
“Maradona inked the deal to come to Kolkata when we called on him at his Buenos
Aires residence Nov 1. He is keen to come to the city for promoting soccer and
visiting the Missionaries of Charity,” said Lahiri, who hit upon the idea of inviting
Maradona and roped in the Ceberity Mangement Group and real estate company
Eden as joint organisers.This is Maradona’s first visit to Asia.
Lahiri said Maradona spent more than an hour with the two-member team led by him.
“His estranged wife Claudia helped us a lot in arranging the meeting. And we sent
him the mail through her”.
The exact date and detailed itinerary is being worked out with Maradona’s agent. “Everything will be known by Friday”.
Kolkata had earlier hosted football greats like Pele, Oliver Kahn and Roger Milla.
Courtesy: EIN News
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