May 28, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1429

KOLKATA, May 27: Thousands of Indian football fans gave a boisterous farewell to retiring German stalwart Oliver Kahn in his last game for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Around 120,000 fans packed into the Salt Lake stadium to watch Bayern defeat India’s oldest club Mohun Bagan 3-0 in a friendly in the football-mad eastern city of Kolkata.

Kahn, 38, voted best player of the 2002 World Cup and three-time world goal-keeper of the year, was given a standing ovation when he was substituted in the second half.

The organisers presented him with a gold trophy studded with 8,640 diamonds at hal-ftime.

“Thank you for this great moment in my career,” Kahn told the fans. “It is a very special moment for me to play my last game in Kolkata and thank you very much for this great night.”

Kolkata was the last stop in Bayern’s brief post-season Asia tour, which also included a game in Indonesia.

Kahn has drawn huge media attention in Kolkata, cricket-mad India’s soccer hub. Hundreds of fans also turned up to watch him feature as a midfield player in a game at a football clinic.

Bayern representatives met officials of the regional West Bengal government, who have sought technical help from the club to set up a football academy.—Reuters