India's footballers find a new pitch in cyberspace

Panaji - India's top footballers, coaches and clubs are battling it out in cyberspace - and not surprisingly Baichung Bhutia is among the frontrunners for the player of the year award.
The action is on IndianFootball.Com, launched six years ago by Arunava Chaudhuri to see how fans rate their favourite players and teams.
The first round of voting concluded June 6. All fans could name their favourites. The top five in each category have now been short-listed and the final voting will conclude mid-July.
"Over the last three years, I have seen the response picking up in the final round. Many wait for the final round to cast their votes. This year, over 200 people have voted so far and there is still a lot of time left for voting," Chaudhuri told IANS.
The trend is growing. In 2002, only 40 people had voted, while last year a hundred joined in.
Does this have any impact on players and clubs?
"Yes, Indian football circles do take note of this vote. Some players and managers even cast their votes. If we are able to put an IndianFootball.Com Awards evening together, then all will be forced to take note," Chaudhuri said.
Growing beyond just giving out cyber-awards, the site is toying with the possibility of organising a gala evening, possibly in early September in Kolkata, where trophies could be handed over to winners.
Chaudhuri has five volunteer editors - two in Germany, and one each in Singapore, Kolkata and Durgapur. The site claims an average of 600 hits per day.
Competing in the player of the year category with Bhutia are his East Bengal team mate Mahesh Gawli, Tomba Singh (Salgaocar), Renedy Singh (Mohun Bagan) and Shanmugam Venkatesh (Mahindra United).
Fighting it out for the foreign player of the year title are Cristiano De Lima Junior (East Bengal), Douglas Da Silva (East Bengal), MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (Sporting Clube de Goa), Mike Okoro (East Bengal) and Yakubu Yusif (Churchill Brothers).
Ashim Biswas (Mohun Bagan), Subhash Chakrabory (East Bengal), Clifford Miranda (Dempo) Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (TFA) and Shylo Malswam Tulunga (East Bengal) are vying for the rookie of the year award.
Coaches vying for the title are Mauricio Afonso (India u-18 Team), Armando Colaco (Dempo) Stephen Constantine (India senior team), Subhas Bhowmick (East Bengal) and David Booth (Mahindra United).
Two Goa clubs - Dempo and Sporting Clube de Goa - are in the race for the team of the year title along with East Bengal, the senior Indian team and the India u-20 side.