New Delhi: Sports Authority of India (SAI) director general (DG) Injeti Srinivas said on Monday that events like ISL cannot replace the qualitative quotient of traditional football tournaments that have been held in the country for ages.
“Today, apart from a couple of events, there are very few domestic tournaments, especially at the junior level. Fine we have the ISL and others but they are fairly new and amateur and cannot replace the old tournaments,” said Srinivas.
“Some time back, the AIFF and SAI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a few objectives in mind to increase the age group tournaments at the junior level, to establish them and introduce more competitions. For that the dialogue is on,” said Srinivas.
“Then we have the U-17 World Cup in 2017 (to be held in India) which will also help the development of the sport in the country.” He added that the government has agreed to provide financial assistance for the development of the sport at the junior level. “Talent can only be spotted in tournaments and trials. So, the more number of tournaments the better,” said Srinivas, who launched SSPF’s National Talent Search and Nurture.
