KSA all India invitational veterans football tourney from Feb 1

Mumbai, Jan 29 (UNI) Football heroes of the recent past like I M Vijayan, Bruno Coutinho and Barhmanand will roll back the years and parade their skills in the KSA All India Invitation Veterans Football Tournament 2008, which will be organised by the Karnatak Sporting Association (KSA) at their ground here from February 1 to 9.

This was announced by KSA President Padmanabh V Shetty and KSA General Secretary Jaya Shetty at a press conference here today.

Also present on the occasion was Dr Gautam Daftary of SIRO CLINPHARM, the sponsor of the tournament.

The KSA Veterans Football Tournament, now in its sixth year, has been a platform for football greats of National and International repute to regain recognition and the KSA has also made sincere efforts to honour and felicitate these players who have done yeoman service for their states and the country, it was stated at the conference.

The spectator support for their tournaments has also been among the best witnessed in the city, which is a testament to the great crowd pulling skills of the senior players.

This year, the scope of the tournament has been widened to include performers from other states and among the invited teams are Goa XI, Hyderabad XI and Kerala XI, giving the city's football loving population an opportunity to watch their favourites in action, the organisers stated at the conference.

The home challenge will be headed by reputed teams like State Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India, Century Rayon, Air India, Central Railway, KSA XI (Red), KSA XI (Blue), MTNL, Goans Sports Association and others.

The KSA will provide accommodation, traveling and food expenses for the players from outstation teams, the organisers said.

Giving details of the prize money, the organisers said that this year, the winning team will get Rs 75,000 along with an attractive trophy, while the runner-up will get Rs 50,000 and a trophy. Besides this, there will also be individual cash prizes for the best goalkeeper, best defender, best midfielder, best striker and the top scorer of the tournament.

The KSA this year, during the tournament will honour and felicitate the following players for their contribution towards sports. They are former football international player Bandya Kakade and Henry Menezes, current India football player Steven Dias, international kabbadi player Gaurav Shetty who led the Indian team in the World Cup and former hockey Olympian Dhanraj Pillay.

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