DEC 27: The Indian camp for selecting the Indian team for Millennium Cup football started with full strength on Tuesday at the Nehru stadium, Fatorda, Margao, with 31 out of the 36 probables reporting.Dipendu Biswas and Mohammed Najib reported sick while senior players like Carlton Chapman, Jo Paul Ancheri and I M Vijayan are expected to join the camp today, according to chief coach Islam Ahmedov.The final Indian squad will be announced on Sunday for the tournament which begins on January 10 at three different venues. India will play their league matches at Cochin and will leave for Kerala January 7 or 8.38-Year-old Uzbek, who has trained the Indian under-16 and under-19 teams, will be the second coach from Uzbekistan after Akramov to train the senior Indian team.``With little time left for the preparation of the team it will not affect much as all the boys are professionals and have responded well to my style of play. For me age is not the creteria, what counts is the fitness, experience and intelligence of a players,'' Ahmedov said and added that this prompted him to recall Bruno Coutinho, I M Vijayan and Carlton Chapman, who could not make it for the England tour.``As of now the Millennium Cup is my assignment and I am concentrating to built the Indian team to play an attractive game and with the boys responding well to my style of working I hope to built a strong side and bring a good result which will boost the football image before the start of the 21st century,'' Ahmedov added.
