The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has decided to set up a Centre of Excellence for soccer in Sikkim and also introduce the Fifa-run Football for Schools (F4F) programme in all six districts. AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said in Gangtok on Wednesday that the Centre of Excellence would cater exclusively for the children of Sikkim so that they did not have to go to far-off cities like Calcutta, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to learn the game.

“We want to start a Centre of Excellence in Sikkim which will only be for the children of Sikkim.… Let Sikkim’s children learn football in Sikkim itself through the Centre of Excellence,” he said.

Chaubey, who had chaired the AIFF’s executive committee meeting earlier in the day, said a proposal to introduce the FIFA-run F4F programme in all six districts of Sikkim had been discussed with chief minister P. S. Tamang (Golay) during their dinner session.

“The chief minister said football grounds would be constructed in six districts (for F4F)…. The grassroots programme will also be implemented at those schools with grounds,” he added.

The AIFF president said according to the tripartite agreement signed by the Fifa, AIFF and the Union government, the F4F programme would be introduced at 1,40,000 schools throughout the country where 1.5 crore children aged between six and 12 would learn football.

F4F is run by the Fifa in collaboration with Unesco and aims to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children worldwide. It seeks to make football more accessible to boys and girls by incorporating football activities into the education system in partnership with authorities and stakeholders.

The chief minister said during his talks with AIFF officials, he had informed them about his government’s plan to improve facilities and infrastructure in the state to encourage the younger generations and to develop world-class players. “We also discussed organising tournaments in the future to raise the level of competitiveness,” he added.

NE Olympics

Sikkim bagged a total of 50 medals — three golds, 16 silvers and 31 bronzes — in the second North-East Olympic Games that concluded in Shillong, Meghalaya, on Wednesday night. Sikkim’s haul of medals came from archery, athletics, boxing, basketball, karate, taekwondo, weightlifting and wushu. Manipur emerged as the overall team champion with a total of 240 medals, including 88 golds, 75 silvers and seven bronzes.