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A complete player

Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Promising player Pujari Meena

Pujari Meena Kumari is one of the two girls from Andhra Pradesh who have been selected among the probables to be picked up for the Indian women’s football team to take part in the Asian championship to be held later this year.

The enthusiastic young lasso who was born on March 21, 1986, took up football from an early age after being inspired by Khizer, an international player from Hyderabad. Khizer’s father Mohd. Ali, an experienced coach, took her along with a few other girls under his wing and began coaching them in the basics of technique and skill.

The sound coaching by her mentor and the experience of watching some of the State’s best players at the famous Goshamahal Ground (the venue where some of Hyderabad’s legendary footballers honed their skills several decades ago) enabled her to pick up the finer nuances very rapidly. Initially her father P. Boyakonda was against her taking up sports as a career but later he got around to supporting her cause.

After completing her 10th standard, she joined Lal Bahadur stadium where she came under the guidance of SAAP coach Venugopal who further increased her skills in trapping, shooting, tackling and dribbling until she became a complete player in every respect. Moreover her confidence also grew as she gained more experience and this helped her top give of her best in every match that she played.

She played in the school nationals in Goa and an under 19 tournament in Orissa and Pondicherry where she scored a goal for her team. Being a defender she does not have much opportunity to score goals so this was a big occasion in her career.

Recently she also played in the senior nationals at Jalgaon where she caught the eye of the selectors with her timely clearances, clean tackling and sound anticipation. She was then picked among the 40 probables who are being put through a series of camps before the final selection is made in Delhi.

She recalled watching her favourite team Spain playing in the Euro 2008 championship on television recently. To her delight Spain went on to win the title defeating Germany by a solitary goal in the final. Incidentally she has also been trained by Spanish coaches at Anantapur where she and a few other girls were called for coaching.

Interestingly she has even found a sponsor — Rajesh Mohan of Signal Sports — who has been her sponsor for one year and has provided her the kit and accessories. But she is also on the lookout for more sponsorship and has appealed to all those who love “the beautiful game” as it was once described by the great Pele, to come forward to help her and put the name of the state on the international scene in women’s football.

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