Date:28/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/28/stories/2004072808011600.htm

Sport - Football

East Bengal embarks on an "educational tour"

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, JULY 27. The nation's champion football club, Kingfisher East Bengal, is set to leave for its maiden tour of England. Coach Subhas Bhowmick referred to the trip as "an educational tour with a mission."

At a news conference on Tuesday on the eve of the team's departure to London, the coach admitted that there was a huge gap in the standards of his team is compared to its English host. "The trip would be treated as an educational tour as our basic objective is to learn something ahead of the tough AFC Cup quarterfinals. But we also have the onerous task of proving to the Europeans that Indian football is not languishing in the dark ages as is generally perceived in that part of the world."

East Bengal has been invited to play by its English partner Leicester City in a tournament to commemorate the latter's 125th anniversary. There are two other participants — Spanish club Real Mallorca and Portugal's Maritimo — in the four-team meet to be held at Leicester City's Walker Stadium, on July 31 and August 1. East Bengal will also be involved in a couple of `community programmes' to be hosted by the Asian community in England.

The first day of the team's itinerary will be devoted to London, where it will visit the House of Commons as a special invitee.

The programme in Leicester City will start the day next on July 30. "We must accept their technical superiority but that should not make us the minnows as we would try to make up for out other shortcomings with mental toughness. This is the only weapon we have," Bhowmick said.

He also expressed his apprehension that the team would not have enough time to overcome jetlag. "There are lot of limitations but we will try to make the most of the trip," he said.

The tournament will be played on a knock-out format, with the winners of the semifinals to play for the Pepsi Trophy while the losers play to decide the third place. Both the matches featuring India will be telecast live by Ten Sports.

The squad: Sangram Mukherjee (captain), Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Chandan Das, Sasthi Duley, Douglas Da Silva, Climax Lawrence, Sujoy Dutta, Selwyn Fernandes, Dipankar Roy, Alvito D'Cunha, Shylo Malswamtulunga, Mutum Bijen Singh, Louis Aniweta, Syed Rahim Nabi, Madhab Das, Syed Hussein, Dipak Mondal, Biachung Bhutia, Tushar Rakshit and Sandip Das. Coach: Subhas Bhowmick; Doctor: Shanti Ranjan Das Gupta; Manager: Manash Mukherjee.