JOIN US“Santosh Ramesh, Sampingiraj Shankar and Amoes Thiruvathanadhan -- all from Bangalore -- have been picked into the Indian team for the AFC U-16 championship,” confirmed All India Football Federation Vice-President AR Khaleel on Wednesday.
“Another Bangalore boy Karthik Vijay has been chosen as a stand-by while former Karnataka player Thomas Joseph will be the assistant coach.”
A 22-member squad with eight officials and three stand-by players are scheduled to leave for Emirates on Wednesday night.
Khaleel has been appointed as the head of the Emirates-bound team while England’s Joseph Toal has been given the chief coach’s duty.
“It is a great feeling to see four players from Karnataka represent India. It only shows the footballing talent the State possesses.
The Indian squad was picked after scrutinising players from a number of national camps. I hope the team puts out its best performance,” added Khaleel.
India has been pooled along with hosts UAE, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman and Turkmenistan in Group D. The Indians open their challenge against Jordan on October 3 and play Turkmenistan (Oct 5), Kyrgyzstan (Oct 8), Oman (Oct 10) before wrapping up their engagements against UAE.
The squad: Kamaljit Singh, Albino Giovanni Gomes,Nitin Meel, Shashank Rawat, Anuj Negi, Pawan Kumar, Kislay Singh Sajwan, Meldon D'Silva, Abhishek Nedungoor Joshy, Santosh Ramesh, Sampingiraj Shankar, Souvik Das, Brandon Fernandes, Gaurav Jhinkwan, Dhillipan Murugesan, Rahul Negi, Sameel Puzhithara, Mervin Stephen Franklin, Lanbe Luwang Samandram Luwang, Lalnunmawia, Jaybrata Dhar, Amoes Thiruvathanadhan.
Stand-byes: Karthik Vijay, Lawrence Simon Betgeri, Ajinkya Ajit Desai.
Coach: Joseph Toal. Asst coaches: Thomas Joseph and C Melay Ranjith. Goal keeper coach: Feroz Sheriff. Head of delegation: AR Khaleel.