Hosts Tamil Nadu will be seen in action against Rajasthan in the Cluster VIII as the 63rd Santosh Trophy kicks off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.
After Nagaland withdrew from the tournament Kerala will play their first match on 26th in Cluster I while Chhattisgarh will lock horns with Chandigarh at Nehru Stadium Coimbatore in the Cluster I match.
Jammu & Kashmir meet Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram plays Pondicherry in the Cluster III matches to be played at St. Joseph College, Tiruchirapalli. Railways will meet Delhi at Thiruvallore in a cluster V match on the same day.
This will be the eighth time that Tamil Nadu will be hosting the National Championship.
In the last year’s edition Tamil Nadu had managed to qualify for the pre quarter final after topping their Cluster but had lost to Services 0-5. Tamil Nadu will hope that this time round they manage to break the jinx and capitalize on the home advantage as they face Rajasthan.
Tamil Nadu coach P Thulasi said, “We got a good side and better show tomorrow. Our side will have K Koluthangan as a captain and have players like D Ravanan, Mohanraj and VP Satish. But we are not taking any team lightly and we are very conscious and we will give our best shot.”
Rajasthan who are playing the National Championship after a year gap will be on the other hand trying hard to make it to the pre quarter finals.
Rajasthan coach Mohammed Raffeq said, “Since the team didn’t play last time the players want to prove a point and the morale is very high and our chances are good and the boys are fit.”
Jammu and Kashmir who in the last year’s edition had qualified for the quarterfinals will be hoping to improve their game as they come face to face with Madhya Pradesh who had failed to qualify for the pre quarter finals last year. With Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Ishfaq Ahmed in their ranks for them it should be an easy ride over Madhya Pradesh.
Another interesting encounter on the opening day will witness last year’s pre quarterfinalists Delhi and Railways locking horns at the Thiruvallore in the cluster V match. Delhi led by India striker Sunil Chettri had some good and experienced players in their ranks but Railway surely will be a tough nut to crack.
Courtesy: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 23 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.