Football has never had the kind of following that it has now in the country with the Indian Super League taking the beautiful game into our homes, and more youngsters taking to the game like never before.
Fourteen year-old Adhithi Rajagopal from the city is one such youngster who recently represented the country in the under-16 Women’s Asian Football Confederation championship, where India finished second.
In fact she was the only girl from the south zone to represent the country in this five-nation tournament.
However, the beautiful game has not always been her first love.
Adhithi says, “I was into athletics and it was my school coach who drafted me in the football team when I was in class six, as he was looking for girls who can run fast. I did not know anything about the sport when I started but slowly began to enjoy the game.”
While not many parents encourage their girl children to play a sport like football, Adhithi says the support of her parents, and her mother in particular, has been tremendous.
Chennai team captainThe standard X student of PS Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, made rapid strides and was only one of two girls from Tamil Nadu to be in 60 probables for the AFC tournament. She also captains the Chennai team in the districts tournaments and has set lofty goals for herself.
A big fan of the English Club Chelsea, Adhithi says her immediate plans are to take part in camps in the United Kingdom and Brazil to improve her game and make it to the India under-19 squad.
