Gangtok, November 17: For the first time in the history of the Nike Manchester United Premiere Cup (MUPC) tournament U/15, Sikkim is hosting this year’s East Zone Qualifiers of the tournament-India 2009 under the aegis of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The East Zone Qualifiers would be held at Paljor Stadium from November 18-20. It was informed in a press conference called by Sikkim Football Association (SFA). The Sikkim ’s own sports hero and Indian Football Captain Padma Shri Bhaichung Bhutia was also present as a guest along with Dr Shaji Prabhakaran, Director (Vision), AIFF.

The tournament was kicked off on November 11 in New Delhi with the North Zone Qualifiers and is now on its second leg with the East Zone Qualifiers to be held in Sikkim . The qualifying team of the East Zone Qualifiers will play against other zonal qualifiers in the India finals, which is scheduled to be held in Goa from December 1-3.

The teams for the East Zone Qualifiers round are Sikkim Football Academy , Kalyani Municipality Academy and Snow Lion Football Academy . The match is arranged in a league format of two matches per day (November 18 and 19) of each team of 40 minutes each. The two qualifiers of the league will play against each other in the final on November 20 at 1:30 pm . For the first time, the India finalist team will get direct entry in Nike MUPC and obtain the opportunity to reveal their talents in global finals.

Bhaichung Bhutia in the conference said that it is a great opportunity or the eastern and northern states of India to play football in Sikkim . “ Sikkim deserves to be a host of this tournament”, he said. He said that the direct entry in the global finals is a great opportunity for the Indian teams. He recalled names like Lionel Messi and Rooney as the players of MUPC tournament. About his retirement from the Indian Football, he said that he has not thought of it right now and revealed “I am very happy now”. Talking on Indian football scenario, Bhutia said that Indian football is going good at the moment and a good future prospect is waiting for it. He said that Indian football team U/16 is doing very good at present in European tournaments and U/15 and U/16 is a base for good football.

Dr Prabhakaran said that AIFF aims at exploring the best football players of the nation through this tournament. The General Secretary of SFA Menla Ethenpa said that the Nike MUPC tournament has in the last 4 years gained huge success amongst serious footballers. He conveyed his pleasure to host the tournament in Sikkim and felt that it provides an opportunity for a lot more teams in the East Zone to participate.

Shivadeep Rai   (shid12@rediffmail.com)