Sport - Football

SBT hit by injuries ahead of Federation Cup

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State league champion State Bank of Travancore (SBT) suffered a double blow ahead of the preliminary round of the Federation Cup football tournament.

SBT will be without the services of captain and key striker Asif Saheer and midfielder Abdul Naushad for the tournament.

Asif Saheer suffered an ankle injury in the practice game against Travancore Titanium last week and was ruled out while the influential mid-fielder Naushad was yet to recover from an eye operation.

The two players were key members of the SBT squad which didn’t have a great time in the second division I league last season.

The absence of these two players is sure to hit the chances of SBT team which opens its campaign against BMFC.

The fact was acknowledged by SBT coach-in-charge and former international V.P.Shaji.

“We will definitely miss them and it will be tough. It will be big test for the newcomers. The senior players will have to pull up their socks and deliver,” he said.

After fielding a few foreign players in the last two seasons, SBT has resisted the temptation for recruiting foreign players this season.

The team instead is banking on home grown talent to deliver goods.

The Thiruvananthapuram based team revamped its football team by including nine new guest players and has weeded out a few players who were found wanting in the last two seasons.

Though the cream of talent in the State had migrated to other professional clubs in the country, SBT recruited the best of the available talent in the State.

Johnson, Kannan, Anish, Sarath, Sreeju, Edison, Surjith, Mohammed Rasi and Mohammed Shafi were selected from 36 footballers who attended the selection trials.

Though the team has been training in earnest at the Chandrashekaran Nair stadium for the last few months, the lack of tournament practice is something which worries coach Shaji.

“This is our first major tournament of this season. Though we had invitation to play in the Governors Cup in Sikkim we couldn’t take part in it as the intimation reached us late. The players will be rusty and the youngsters will be nervous. But they will have to perform, “he said. — Principal Correspondent

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