PANJIM: Defending Champions Services begin their Santosh Trophy West Zone Qualifiers campaign on Sunday when they take on Gujarat.
But this time the tournament will be even more special for Services as their Goa-based head coach Parshuram Salwadi is hoping to receive some home support as he pursues his campaign for second consecutive crown.
“Well, though the qualifiers are in Goa, this year Goa has a reason to support Services as there is a young Goan in Services too,” quipped Parshuram.
Parshuram was the head coach of the Services team which won the crown last season.
“We have retained most of the players except for the U-21 players,” expressed Parshuram.
Services are grouped along with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and the coach believes Maharashtra are strong contenders in the group A.
“Definitely Maharashtra are strong team and thats a challenge for us. But having an extra team in the group gave us an added advantage as we will be able to play extra game before playing Maharashtra,” added
Parshuram explaining that his side will get time to settle in the tournament before they play their strong competitors.
“We have come here us defending champions and we will try to maintain whatever we have done last year,” added Parshuram.
