CFA players leaving for Germany today

CHANDIGARH, May 20 (UNI) Twelve players of the state-run Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA) will leave for Germany tomorrow for a 15-day training at Sportschule Egidius Braun in Leipzig from May 24 to June 9.

Chandigarh Sports Director Inderjit Singh Sandhu said here today that two officials, former international and Indian captain Harjinder Singh and Joint Director of Sports, Dr J P S Sidhu would accompany the trainees, as coach and head of the delegation, respectively.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sandhu also disclosed that another batch of 12 players would go to Germany for advance scientific training from November 18 to December 2.

Coach Harjinder Singh was happy that the boys would be exposed to specialized 15-day training in Germany and said ''The move of the Chandigarh administration will certainly benefit the players. The boys will gain good experience under trained tutors in honing their skills and improving their physical standards.'' The first batch will consist of Ramanjot Singh, Sachin Balwal, Sumeet Passi, Rajinder, Chinkash Tewari, Maninder Singh, Baljinder Singh, Robin Singh, Samuel, Aakashdeep Singh, Gagandeep Singh and Rajbir Singh.

Deepak Devrani and Bikramjit were selected for the training in Germany in the first batch. However, due to some technical problems (validity of their passports was not more than six months as required for obtaining visa). They will, however, be accommodated in the second batch.

Chandigarh Football Academy and Sportschule Egidius Braun Leipzig of Germany had signed an agreement last year to provide training to the CFA players.

Andre Kuhn, Director of Sportschule and S K Sandhu, Secretary Sports, had penned the agreement respectively.

Adviser to the Chandigarh Administrator, Lalit Sharma has sanctioned of Rs 18 lakh for the training in Germany.

UNI