Bengal govt to revamp football academy

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government is set to revamp the state football academy. The government had set up a residential academy at the Khardaha stadium on the outskirts of Kolkata where kids from all over the state are staying and learning the game. These students have been selected after an intense scouting process.
However, after years of operation nothing fruitful has emerged from this academy which is overseen by former India international Gautam Sarkar.
Recently state’s new minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who is assisting sports minister Aroop Biswas, visited the academy along with some other state officials and Bengal Olympic Association (BOA) president Ajit Banerjee. According to reports the officials were not happy with the things at the academy.
Although 31 students have been registered, the official could find only 23 of them present. On being asked, those in charge at Khardaha, said two of the students have been released while the others have gone home after suffering injuries,
The officials were not satisfied with the infrastructure and some other facilities been provided at the academy also. The players did not have practice jerseys also.
It was thus decided that a committee will be formed to decide on a road map about how to go ahead with the academy. The panel members will be visiting the Tata Football Academy (TFA) in Jamshedpur and take down points about how to run an academy. They may also visit other such football academies of the country before arriving at a blueprint of development.
The sports minister plans to bring in more licenced coaches in the academy too.