A two days selection trial for the SAIl Football Academy Bokaro (for juniors) and Burnpur (for seniors) kicked-off at the Mohan Kumar Mangalam Stadium Bokaro on Tuesday.Organised by the Sports department of Bokaro Steel Plant, the selection trials will witness participation of a total of 120 contenders from the home state Jharkhand as well as Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, Kerala, Jammu and Maharashtra.
The rigorous trial sessions, spread over two days, will include a series of tests to judge the skill level, speed and other parameters of the aspirants for selection to the premier academy. The selection panel comprises Pravin Kumar (Bhilai Steel Plant), Supriyo Dasgupta (CMO, Kolkata), Arup Das (CMO, Kolkata), Surojit Sarcar (EMD, Kolkata), Ranjit Haldar (ISP, Burnpur) and Subhash Rajak(BSl). Notably, all the selectors from various SAIl units are themselves either ex-national or ex-international level football players. The selection trials are intended for selecting fourteen cadets for the academy at Bokaro and twelve cadets for Burnpur.
The selected cadets will undergo three years of training at the respective academies. During the training period, the cadets will be provided free accommodation, meals, dress, sports kit and medical facilities. They will also be given the opportunity of completing their schooling in the respective plant's school along with free books and uniform.