Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars in Delhi on April 12-13

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) Launched with a view to find and develop world class talent from the grassroot level in India, the Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars tournament will be held here on April 12-13.

The tournament, which is being held for boys in the age group of 10-15 years, will see more than 40 teams from Delhi and NCR competing for top honours.

The two finalists will go on to compete in the national finals in Kolkata with fourteen other finalists from different cities across the country.

A total of 30 boys will be selected who will receive special training from a coaching team from English Premier League club Arsenal. A final team of 15 boys will be selected from among them who will represent India at the Arsenal International Soccer Festival in England.

The coaches will be led by Paul Shipwright, who is a part of the coaching staff of the Arsenal senior team.

The boys will be exposed to ''The Arsenal Way'' which is a training method personally devised by Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger.

Former Mohammeddan Sporting forward Jamshed Nassiri is heading the scouting programme which will select a minimum of 3 boys from each city.

''I hope this tournament will provide good exposure to Indian boys and give them an oppertunity to showcase their talent at the international level,'' Nassiri told mediapersons here today.

''It will provide an opportunity to popularise football among young people specially in this time when cricket is dominating all the other sports,'' he added.

The tournament will feature 7-a-side matches on a playing area which is 30 metres long and 15 feet wide.

The matches, which will have a total duration of 16 minutes, will have a different set of rules than the usual 11-a-side games. They will have rolling substitution and will have kick-ins instead of throw-ins.

Delhi will host the fifth leg of the event. The earlier legs were held in Bangalore, Calicut, Goa and Chandigarh.

According to Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) president NK Bhatia, the initiative has received a huge response in the city with a total of 70 schools expected to participate.

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