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NEW
DELHI: After promoting hockey, ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has
now stepped into promoting football in a new brand-building
effort that would also boost the game at the grassroots level,
with the finale of the national Junior Premier League (JPL)
ending here on 4 February.
The
Boys Sports Company, a school from Bangalore, won the ESS
JPL - an inter-school football tournament.
ESS
officials said the effort was to popularise soccer at the
grassroots level in the country.
Speaking
during the prize distribution, ESPN Software India COO Vijay
Rajput said, "As the leading sports broadcaster, it is
our endeavour to build the love of sports amongst the youth
of the country.
"The
Junior Premier League saw participation from as many as 80
leading schools from the country and we are extremely delighted
with the response," Rajput added.
Interestingly,
the programme has been going on for the past three years at
a very low publicity scale.
This
is the first time that the full tourney has been held. Rajput
said that ESS runs a schools programme called 'Learning Ground'
in more than 1,200 schools across 23 cities in India.
The
Junior Premier League is part of the Learning ground initiative.
JPL
is modelled on the Barclays Premier League (BPL), and simulates
the same environment with the teams named after the students'
favourite BPL clubs Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool
and Chelsea.
The
tournament had regional rounds in five cities across India
- Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The
winner from each city qualified for the national finals. All
the teams barring the Delhi one had been flown in for the
series of games held here, officials said.
As
a special prize, 'Player of the Tournament' from each city
will to go for the Premier League match to England in April.
Rajput,
along with Dr. D.R. Saini, Vice-Principal, Delhi Public School,
handed over the prizes to the participants.
School
team from Boys Sports Company received the winner's cheque
of Rs 50,000. Runner-up Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj received
cash prize of Rs 30,000
ESS
showcases a comprehensive array of international soccer properties
including Barclays Premier League, Spanish Primera Liga etc.
In
addition, the sports broadcaster will also show case UEFA
Euro 2008.
The
viewership of international soccer has been on the rise and
with grassroots level activities like the Junior Premier League;
the broadcaster is aiming at making an even bigger dent in
the Indian market, an official told Indiantelevision.com.
The
plans are to develop the event at a level that could reach
that of the other ESS event, Premier Hockey League, and the
vision is not encashing on the new event in the short run,
but develop it slowly and bring it to the surface as a major
event, officials said.
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