Arjuna awardee Mohd. Habib and former India captain Victor Amalraj could not hide their admiration for the duo that made it to the Indian camp preparing for the Slum Soccer World Cup in Chile later this year.
Little did Tariq Ahmed and Simarpreet Singh realise what destiny had in store for them when they began training under Mohd. Saleh at the Sports Coaching Foundation.
Tariq and Simarpreet were members of the State team which participated in the national Slum Soccer Championship at Nagpur early this month, and finished second.
They will now attend the national camp, which is likely to be held in Nagpur soon.
India had finished 29th in the last edition of the championship, which saw 80 countries take part and Brazil emerge winner.
“We never dreamt we wo-uld reach this stage. We hope to make the Indian team,” the duo says. Tariq, a 19-year-old engineering student from Hussaini Alam, had lost his father a few years ago. Simarpreet, a B.Com student, hails from Zaranagar near Mehdipatnam, and is the son of an automobile shop employee.
For the slum soccer team’s benefit, director of Kaarmic Education Services Dantu Kartik and Adithya Sanjay of Awakening Foundation have launched a project in coordi-nation with SCF to distribute 150 indestructible footballs to tap into more talent.