Star Indian footballer Vijayan feted, launches summer football camp for students

Indian football team’s former captain Dr I M Vijayan Thursday launched a summer football camp for students in Qatar. Set to begin on August 1, the month-long camp will be organised by Manjappada Qatar, a collective of Kerala Blasters FC and Indian Sports Centre (ISC). The camp will provide around 120 students from various age groups with training to improve their football skills. The exercise will be supervised by Kerala football team’s Santosh Trophy head coach Bino George and led by Gokulam Kerala FC coach Suneesh.The function at Integrated Indian Community Centre, also saw Dr Vijayan being honoured. The star footballer was recently awarded a doctorate by the Akankirsk Northern State Medical University in Russia for his contribution to Indian football. The captain of the Indian national team from 2000-2004, the Kerala player made 79 appearances for India, with 40 goals to his credit. Dr Vijayan said that the doctorate came as a recognition of his efforts and achievements including the record for the fastest goalscorer in the 12th second, against Bhutan at the 1999 SAF Games. He said he is glad to receive the honour from the Indian community and the embassy in Doha and wished a bright future for budding Indian footballers in Qatar. Dr Vijayan is in Qatar to attend the final match of the Dhanaraj-AS Firos All India Sevens Football Tournament as the chief guest. The final of the tournament, organised by Sol Qatar, will be held today. Dr Vijayan noted that football always stands for good while bringing everyone together. Manjappada vice-president Jose Francis told Gulf Timesthat arrangements are being done for the camp and around 120 students are expected to attend. “The camp will be held from 6pm to 9pm in three batches of three age groups, such as 6-9, 10-14 and 15-18 years. Various Indian schools and community organisations are co-operating for the camp.Manjappada general secretary Akhil Noordeen handed over a ticket of the Argentina-Mexico match of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to Dr Vijayan. Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) president P N Baburajan, Indian embassy first secretary (culture and education) Sachin Dinkar Shankpal, second secretary Dr Sona Soman and Manjappada president Deepesh Govindankutty were also present.