FIFA's "Vision India" project to be extended nationwide

Chennai, Mar 30 (UNI) The 'Vision India' project envisaged to give a fillip to football in the country will be extended to other regions, Brenden Meton, acting director of Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) 'Vision Asia' programme said here today.

Addressing a press conference here Brenden, who is on a three-day assessment visit to the state said the ongoing projects in Manipur and Delhi had been successful. The AFC project has targetted seven countries including India. It's aimed at improving the standard of the game'', he said.

He said Manipur has made considerable progress in implementing the project. ''Manipur will have state-level league soon. There will be competitions for the various age groups in the districts''. But Delhi was a bit slow in the process, which was understandable, he said.

He said the ongoing project in Manipur and Delhi were being conducted successfully. ''The programme would be extended to other parts of the country also,'' he added However referring to the results from the programme, Mr Brendon said ''it's a long-term project. And should do not expect any revolution overnight.'' Brenden , who is AFC's acting director of 'Vision Asia', will also visit Kerala after completing the assessment in Tamil Nadu.

The Vision Asia projects in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh are ''very successful''.

He that his team from AFC would hold discussions with the TamilNadu Football Association headed by C R Visswanathan, officials of the Tamil Nadu state governement and the representatives of the district associations. His team consists of Suvrat Thatte, Jita Singh, Mohammed Bashir, Mohammed Ameez (all development officers).

Menton said a draft plan of 'Vision India-Project Tamil Nadu' will be submitted to the AFC and will began initiating the project for Tamil Nadu from May. There will be regular reviews of the projects afterwards.'' Menton said the projects have targetted 11 rpt one one elements of which five were on priority basis to develop the game.

The priority would be given to infrastructure and administration, grass-roots and youth, coaches, competitions and refereeing.

He said the women's football would also be covered under the project.

UNI