Kolkata: The City of Joy will have its first “School of Sports” much like the one that exists in Kanpur. “Aditya School of Sports” was launched on Thursdayto nurture the budding talent in Bengal. The Aditya Group has already joined hands with Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Atletico de Kolkata to provide world class football training for students under 14 in its school Aditya Academy in Barasat. This will be the first time that a residential academy for cricketers will start functioning in the state.
The function was attended by Atletico de Kolkata CEO Subrata Talukdar, Indian womens cricketer Jhulan Goswami, Chairman of the Group – Mr Anirban Aditya and Abdul Monayem.
Speaking about the initiative, Mr Anirban Aditya, Chairman of the company said, “We are happy to make this announcement and hope to make a significant contribution in sports in the state. We want to provide the best of training and exposure for our students in the field of sports, particularly cricket and football.”
The group will initially conduct cricket and football training in the “School of Sports” with the best of infrastructure and facilities will soon be venturing out to other sports training options such as table tennis, chess and karate.
Former cricketer Abdul Monayem, who was appointed the Chief Advisor will soon start the trials all over the state. 20 shortlisted cricketers will be drafted in the Aditya School of Sports in Dum Dum for a period of 5 years. The selected boys will get coaching from ex-cricketers of the state like Satinder Singh, Satrajit Lahiri. The management is also trying to get in former cricketers like Gopal Bose, Jhulan Goswami , Palash Nandy on the advisory board.
According to Monayem, “This is more or less the same concept as the Kanpur Sports hostel. The likes of Kaif, Raina has all come out from the school. The main objective is try and reach out to the remote areas and unearth talents. The trials will start in April next year.