Kerala Blasters rope in Semboi Haokip for 2016 ISL season

New Delhi, July 7 (ANI): Kerala Blasters announced on Thursday its new signing of Thongkhosiem Haokip for the upcoming edition of the Indian Super League 2016. Popularly known as 'Semboi', the 22 year old gifted striker, who had a fabulous run last season scoring four goals from six appearances for FC Goa, will now don the yellow jersey for Kerala Blasters. Thongkhosiem Haokip started his career with the Pune FC youth academy where he became the first academy player to net a hat-trick in an under-20 match. His fondness for scoring hat-tricks can be seen from his performance in the I-League 2014-15 season, where he scored three times within 15 minutes against Shillong Lajong. He finished the season as the highest Indian goal scorer with seven goals in 18 matches. He repeated the hat-trick in the previous season of ISL becoming the first Indian player to score a hat-trick both in the ISL and the I-League. Reflecting on his latest signing, Haokip said, "I am excited to be part of Kerala Blasters and hope to justify the faith put in me by the coach and the management. I am looking forward to meet and train with my new teammates and coach Steve Coppell." (ANI)