Sri Lanka attends third SAFF U16 Championship

Sri Lanka U16 team will be participating in the third South Asian Football Federation Championship.

The Championship will be held in Sylhet District, Bangladesh from the 9-18th August. This is the third time Sri Lanka are participating and in both previous appearances they were dumped out of the tournament in the group stage. 

In 2011 Sri Lanka were beaten 6-2 and 6-0 by Bangladesh and Nepal respectively while Pakistan beat India to become Champions. In 2013 the islanders were beaten 4-1 by India and 3-1 by Bangladesh. India became champions beating Nepal 1-0 in the final.

This year Sri Lanka are drawn in Group A alongside India and Bangladesh. The squad was chosen from 260 players which was brought down to 65. The 65 were trained for three weeks and cut down to 40. They were again brought down to 25.

“We had a good process in selecting the players. They were called to Baddegana training complex where the selectors and technical committee were all there,” U16 Head Coach Mohamed Roomy told ThePapare.com

“It was really hard to pick the final 20. They were all equally matches,” he went onto say.

“SAFF U16, is a good exposure for these kids for the future. First match is with India and will do everything for the win. I think positive. I’m going all out in both matches in group stage,” positive thinking Roomy told about the tournament hopes.

“Strength is fitness. These guys played against U19 lost 2-1 but played really well. Weakness is their build. These guys are slightly built but they have good skill levels.” He added.

Sri Lanka U16 team is captained by Mohamed Afran from Badulla Al Adhan College. He comes from a football family where his uncle Kabir played for Sri Lanka and is the current coach of Negombo Youth.

“We are all training hard. We played well with the U19’s in the practice match. Some of our guys were sick but our goalkeeping coach Mohamed Azwar looked after us really well. He was awake even in the middle of the night giving the sick medicine,” Afran added about the exceptional care they are given.