India starts its preparation for the new international football season with national camps in Goa in preparation for the SAFF Cup in Sri Lanka and Maldives and the AFC Challenge Cup which India will host in July-August.

Throwing the pool of players wide open for selection, the AIFF today announced that 21 players will be called for a pre-national camp in Goa starting March 26 and those who pass the muster in it would join 24 players for the the national camp proper which starts on April 5.

The shortlisted players for the pre-national camp are mostly those who have not represented the country at the senior level but have donned national colours as juniors, except for a few better known names like Kuttimani, Chandam Chitrasen and Tariff Ahmed.

Those who have played in the Nehru Cup last year and the 2010 World Cup Qualifier first round have been included in the main camp. Only JCT’s Anwar is the new addition in that list.

The SAFF Cup will be held in Colombo and Male in June while the host city of the AFC Challenge Cup, Asia’s second tier international tournament, will be decided shortly.

The AIFF had proposed Delhi and Hyderabad to host the event and an AFC observer visited the country last month to inspect the infrastructure in the two cities.

Probables for SAAF Games camp

Goalkeepers: Arindam Bhattacharya, Subhashish Roy Choudhury, Karanjit Singh; Defenders: Robert Lalthlamyana, Nirmal Chetri, Govin Moirangthem, Naoba Singh, Rakesh Masih, Denzil Franco, Valeriano Rebello, Mohan Raj, Kuttimani, Rocus Lamare, Vashum Reisungmi, Baldip Singh, Chandam Chitrasen, James Singh; Forwards: Khangebam Thoi Singh, CS Sabeet, Sushil Singh, Tariff Ahmed

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