Leon, Kalinga, Bhutia, Roshan And Biswa To Don State Jersey; To Take On Andhra Pradesh In Opener

Bengaluru: Five Bengaluru FC B boys have been named in the Karnataka squad for the 73rd edition of the Santosh Trophy which kicked off last week. Winger Leon Augustine, defenders Namgyal Bhutia, Prashanth Kalinga and Biswa Darjee along with attacker Naorem Roshan Singh have been called up by the Karnataka State Football Association for the South Zone qualifiers of the competition.

Karnataka, who begin their campaign against Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, have been slotted in Group A of the South Zone Qualifiers which are being held at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ground in Neyveli. Tamil Nadu are the other team in the group who were defeated by Andhra on Saturday.

“It’s a proud moment for all of us at Bengaluru FC to have five players from the B team called up to represent Karnataka in the Santosh Trophy. It’s a prestigious tournament with a lot of history and the experience will serve the boys well. Last year we lost out in the semifinal, but I hope we do better this time around. At Bengaluru FC our goal is to contribute to the development and growth of football in Karnataka and India and we want our boys to make everyone proud,” said BFC Coach Naushad Moosa on the eve of the opening game.

While it is the second successive year that Leon is part of the state side, this will be the first appearance for the other four boys. For the record, Karnataka reached the semifinal last season bowing out to West Bengal when Leon and Shainkhan CP along with former BFC B players Azaruddin SK and Shahabaaz Khan were part of the squad.