It was a night like by no means earlier than for a Santosh Trophy-winning crew. For, massive money awards had been introduced to the Kerala crew which claimed the Nationwide soccer title in Malappuram not too long ago.
Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, chairman and managing director of VPS Healthcare, rewarded the crew with Rs. 1 crore with VPS’ India head Hafiz Ali Ullat and Company Communications head Rajeev Mangottil presenting the cheque at a perform right here on Friday.
The crew’s goalscorers additionally obtained Rs. 10 lakh and the presence of the captains and coaches of Kerala’s six earlier triumphant Santosh Trophy groups made it all of the extra memorable. The previous captains and coaches had been introduced with gold cash.
“Such massive money awards…this has by no means occurred earlier than for a Santosh Trophy-winning crew and to think about honouring former coaches and captains is a good gesture. Not many consider such issues. It will absolutely encourage the youthful era,” mentioned soccer nice I.M. Vijayan, who together with Jo Paul Ancheri and Asif Saheer, lit up the night.
A request
Vijayan requested Dr. Shamsheer to begin a grassroots-level academy in Kerala. “That can assist Kerala produce extra proficient gamers and construct robust groups for the longer term. Qatar had began an academy a number of years in the past and now they’ve some very proficient gamers and a robust crew,” mentioned the previous India captain.
Kerala captain Jijo Joseph, head coach Bino George, T.A. Jaffer, a member of the Kerala crew which received the Santosh Trophy for the primary time in 1973 and who coached Kerala to the title twice later, coach M. Peethambaran, who additionally guided the crew to the title twice, had been amongst those that spoke.
Kurikesh Mathew, Sylvester Ignatius, V. Sivakumar, Rahul V. Raj – all captains of Kerala’s triumphant Santosh Trophy groups prior to now – and Anitha Sathyan, spouse of former Kerala captain V.P. Sathyan, had been additionally current on the occasion.
