With Chandigarh U-19 players doing well in the U-19 National Championship this year,all the spotlight has been on the Chandigarh players. The Chandigarh team won the BC Roy All India Football Tournament held at Kolkata and the players wrote a new chapter in the history of Chandigarh football. One of the members of the coaching staff of Chandigarh Football Academy,Tejinder Kumar played an instrumental role in the team's triumph and the coach is of the view that if the players are given the right opportunities,Chandigarh players can do wonders. "One of the things which we did in the tournament was planning and proper training. Half of the task is complete if one concentrates on these two things and rest is up to the players. I am happy about their performance and our strategies worked in the tournament. We were in good rhythm through out the tournament and out of eight matches,we won six,lost one and drew one match. The team scored 25 goals which was was a deciding factor in our triumph," says Kumar,who represented India in SAFF games in 1993 and 1995 and was the member of the gold medal winning squad in 1995. The former international player joined Chandigarh Football Academy in 2006 and has worked with the academy players in all the age categories. Since then,CFA has produced seven international players in different age groups and Kumar believes that Chandigarh players has the mettle to go far in the game. "Our players have been performing well and they have won tournaments at junior level. We have to be patient with them as most of the players are still in the junior categories and players need time to make the transition from the junior level to the senior level. They have been doing well in the national as well as international tournaments in the junior category and have been figuring constantly in the Indian junior team," says Kumar,who was a regular member of the Indian football team in the nineties. The recent success has meant that Chandigarh players will be sharing the spotlight but Kumar says the players have to tread the path carefully.
