Indian U-16 team for Arsenal soccer festival

Sixteen players from seven cities will leave for London July 21 to represent India in the under-16 category at the 21st Arsenal International Soccer Festival (AISF).

The players have been chosen from a phased inter school football tournament played across 15 cities including Kolkata, New Delhi, Gangtok, and Shillong.

A pool of 30 boys selected from the tournament underwent a two-week conditioning camp in the city as part of the talent hunt programme Arsenal Tata Tea Soccer Stars (ATTSS).

Of the 16, three each are from New Delhi, Chandigarh, Shillong and Gangtok, two from Bangalore and one each from Kozhikode and Bhubaneswar.

Ironically, Kolkata, India's socceer hub, found no representation.

Young midfielder Abhiraj Vikram Singh said: "I am extremely happy and fortunate to be part of this team."

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Ethnic food festival concludes

A large number of tourists experienced a wide variety of culinary delights made of jackfruit and mango, available in plenty in Kerala as summer fruits.

The festival was jointly organised by women self help chain 'Kudumbashree' and Kerala Tourism at Vellar as part of the ongoing digital video production training programme for children.

The festival showcased Kerala's traditional delicacies including curries, chutneys, pickles, puddings and fritters and fries made of jackfruit and mango, handed down through generations.

The mouth-watering dishes that were laid out before the visitors included 'chakka pradhaman', 'chakka ada', 'unniyappam' made soft and sweet by mixing ripened jackfruit, jackfruit halva and thick brown jackfruit-ghee-jaggery paste, which has a long shelf life.

For those who prefer spicy dishes, there will be 'chakka pulissery', made of raw jackfruit cooked in buttermilk, 'chakka thoran', jackfruit sambar, vada made of jackfruit stone, tender jackfruit thoran and to cap the list 'chakka puzhukku', the quintessential summer fare that goes well with rice porridge.

In snacks, there was chakka chips, chakka pappadam and chakka vattal.

The mango delicacies featured by the festival were many, ranging from raw mango juice to different types of pickle to mango pudding, made without heating up.

The event also exhibited different varieties of jackfruit collected from various parts of Kerala. Sales counters were also set up for the visitors to buy and take home the items of their choice.

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Indian U-16 team for Arsenal Soccer Festival to leave July 21

Sixteen players from seven cities will leave for London July 21 to represent India in the Under-16 category at the 21st Arsenal International Soccer Festival (AISF).

The players have been chosen from a phased inter-school football tournament played across 15 cities including Kolkata, New Delhi, Goa, Gangtok, and Shillong, where over 7,000 budding talents representing more than 1,000 schools took part.

A pool of 30 boys selected from the tournament underwent a two week conditioning camp in the city as part of the talent hunt programme Arsenal Tata Tea Soccer Stars (ATTSS).

The players were trained under the expert guidance of former Iranian striker Jamshed Nassiri and Andrew Douglas, head of the Arsenal School of Soccer.

Of the 16, three each are from New Delhi, Chandigarh, Shillong and Gangtok, two from Bangalore and one each from Kozhikode and Bhubaneshwar. Gur Simat Singh from Chandigarh will captain the team.

Ironically, Kolkata, which is a known football-mad city, found no representation.

Young midfielder Abhiraj Vikram Singh said: "I am extremely happy and fortunate to be part of this team. Under this programme we got to learn many new techniques especially from (Andrew) Douglas sir. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Nassiri was all praise for the youngsters and said it was a great opportunity for them to showcase their skills in the soccer carnival and make it big in the game.

“I was pleasantly surprised by not only their standards of skill but also their mentality and attitude,” said Douglas.

Asked to comment on his club’s performance in the English Premier League (EPL) the former youth team player from Arsenal told IANS: “I don’t think the fortunes of the team are dipping. We have done reasonably well in the EPL and it will be a harsh to say that there is a big gap between us and the top teams.”

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Abhinaya drama festival begins from May 27

Kottayam, May 26 : The 2nd Abhinaya Summer Drama Festival (Malayalam version), under the auspices of the Arts Society Kottayam and Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, will be held at Mammen Mappillai Hall here from May 27 to May 29.

At a news conference here today, Arts Society President P V Cherian, Secretary Anish Punnen Peter and Abhinaya President Reghoothaman said Bhagavadajjukam, Lesson, Macbeth would be staged as part of the festival.

Around 40 artistes were participating in the festival being held at eight centres.

The festival started at Kozhikode on April 28.

Programmes as part of the festival were already staged at Kattapana, Palakkad, Muvattupuzha, and Kochi before reaching Kottayam.

After staging programmes at Kollam from June 1 to 3, the valedictory programme of the festival would be held at Thiruvananthapuram on June 9, they said.

--UNI

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National Jackfruit Festival from June 4

Thiruvananthapuram, May 19 : As part of the National Jackfruit Festival-2011, a mega exhibition of the fruit will be held at Kanakakunnu Palace here from June 4 to 6.

Several varieties of jackfruits, jackfruit products, jackfruit saplings, posters and pictures will be exhibited at the festival, according to the National Jackfruit Fest Exhibition Committee members here today.

Demonstration, Cooking and sales of products from jackfruits will also be conducted at the venue. Competition in Photography , Cookery, Quiz programme on jackfruits are the other programmes planned, they said.

The festival is jointly organized by State Horticulture Mission, Local Self Government Institutions and Non Governmental Organizations like Santhigram, Uravu, Thanal and Sahayi.

A workshop on Jackfruit for Local Food Security, skill training for trainers on value added products from jack fruit, live demo and sale of various products, exhibition of various type of jackfruits, show casing of value added products, poster exhibition of nutrition and health value of jackfruits, cookery competition, quiz competition, photography competition, planting of various varieties of jack fruit Grafts/Seedlings in the office premises and public places in the city, would be held.

--UNI

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