Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club has announced today “Merlin RISE CSJC Football Tournament 2023” in collaboration with the Merlin Group. Merlin Group came forward in the year 2022 to support the esteemed Calcutta Sports Journalists’ club to promote football tournament among the media fraternity. This year Merlin also came forward to hold the tournament at Merlin Rise Football Ground – at Rajarhat on August 17 and August 18, 2023.
At a formal function , former star footballers Sisir Ghosh , Dipendu Biswas, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Lalit Thapa in presence of Shri Satyen Sanghvi, Director, Merlin Group and all members of Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club and team managers, announced the second edition of the tournament and unveiled the jersey . The guests also conducted the lottery that decided the sport fixture of the tournament today.
20 teams namely Kolkata Doordarshan, The Times of India, Pratidin, Aajkal, Jago Bangla, dindarpan, Photogrpher’s association, Jugasankha, Dainik Sambad, East Bengal Samachar, CSJC, TV9 Bangla, News Time, Zee 24 Ghanta, Tribe TV, R Plus, Xtra Time Biswabangla sambad, Mixed Zone Missile, Mixed zone bullets confirmed their participation in the two day long tournament. Media houses known to fight it out for the latest ‘breaking news’ will be competing among them for the coveted trophy this time in the Merlin RISE CSJC Media football tournament 2023. This five-a-side football tournament will witness interesting football matches where media houses of the city would be vying for top honours.
Last year the tournament received overwhelming response from the media houses . Merlin Rise provided top notch sporting facilities and the players enjoyed the matches . The tournament will be played in two groups with teams from the print media and the audio-visual media. A separate winner will be crowned in each category.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Saket Mohta, MD, Merlin Group said, “ As per our commitment last year, we are privileged to host the tournament at our sports city Merlin Rise this year too. We at Merlin staunchly believe in sporting activities to keep our body and mind fit. Our Sports City Merlin Rise has partnered with international sporting icons like Brazilian star Ronaldinho, Yuvraj Singh and Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps for setting up their academies. We urge all media houses to participate in this grand tournament as sports keep our body, mind and spirit healthy.”
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Satyen Sanghvi, Director, Merlin Group said, “We are very happy to be able to keep our commitment to support the football tournament of CSJC. Merlin Rise-The Sports Republic provides a state-of -the-art infrastructure with provision for Indoor and outdoor area with flood lights for night football and cricket. Already 1200 hours of corporate cricket tournaments have been played here. We are also in talks with IFA and CAB for association. We had support Indian Deaf Cricekt Association to host the Deaf Trination cricket tournament at Merlin Rise and their Deaf IPL tournament too. Our R10 Academy , championed by the Brazilian soccer icon Ronaldinho and Yuvraj Singh Center of Excellence are already operational at Merlin Rise. Around 140 kids have already enrolled in the programme. We are adhering to the International standards in football training and all the modules are exclusively designed by R10 & YSCE.The programmes provides a holistic approach towards developing Sportsmanship & Team spirit in the kids. The coaches are handpicked and specially trained by R10 for maintaining quality standards.
We wish all the participants of the Merlin CSJC Media Football 2023 the very best and hope the tournament is a grand success..”
CSJC President Suven Raha said, “The media football tournament is always a look-forward to event of The Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club. We are happy that Merlin Group has come forward this year too to organize the tournament in their football ground. We hope it to be a grand success .”
CSJC hony secretary Archiman Bhaduri said, “This tournament is an occasion to fight on the ground and make new friends thereafter. I am sure our partnership with Merlin Group will also kick off from here.”
The Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club (CSJC), founded way back in 1956, is the only such organization in Eastern India that is run by only sports journalists of the media world. Over the years it has established itself as an important platform of interaction between sportspersons of the state and the Fourth Estate.
The club has played a big role in the spreading of sporting culture in the State by helping in giving wide coverage to various such events over the years.
Spread over a sprawling area in Rajarhat, “Merlin RISE – Sports Republic” is a self-sufficient township with all amenities required for today’s modern living. Besides associating with “RONALDINHO – R10 FOOTBALL ACADEMY , Merlin Rise will also house the state of the art cricket academy by Yuvraj Singh- YSCE ; The swimming academy of MICHAEL PHELPS —- – “MICHAEL PHELPS SWIMMING” and India’s state of the art “MMA MATRIX TRAINING CENTRE” BY TIGER SHROFF .
