English soccer club Arsenal scouts for talent in Kolkata
4 Jun 2008, 1222 Hrs

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Kolkata, June 4 (ANI): After Bayern Munich's legendary player Oliver Kahn played the last match of his football career in Kolkata, the 'City of Joy' as it is popularly called, has emerged as the hunting ground for promising football talent.

England's famed Arsenal club is now scouting for budding footballers here at a training camp, which began on Tuesday.

Arsenal coaches, Paul Shipwright and Martin Davis are busy imparting training to a group of 30 boys, selected from across various Indian cities.

The boys, in the age group of 10-15 years, will also be given training in customized Arsenal Development Programme called 'The Arsenal Way'.

The purpose behind the whole exercise is to pick out 15 promising players, who will then be taken to London to play for Arsenal.

"Martin and I are going to coach these 30 players. At the end of it, we are going to be playing 11 of us against each other," said Shipwright.

In a cricket loving country, such an attempt is seen as a good way to develop the sport and bring it at par with cricket. (ANI)