Former State football coach P. Thulasi returned from the Futuro III refresher course for coaching instructors, a FIFA programme, with hopes of making further progress in his new chosen line in the game.
The week-long course was hosted by the Chinese Football Association near Beijing and Thulasi was the only Indian who got the opportunity to attend it.
As many as 17 instructors, chosen from the previous course held in Hong Kong sometime back, were selected for this programme which involved theory and practical classes.
It was conducted by noted FIFA officials Horst Kriete (Germany) and Kwok Ka-Ming (Hong Kong).
The former ICF player and currently its coach, the 46-year old Thulasi was happy that he could make an impact in this group of Instructors from various countries in South East Asia.
Special prize
“I won a prize in the skills test and Kriete rewarded me with a cap that South African legend Nelson Mandela had presented him,” Thulasi said.
Thulasi said the two FIFA officials would do an evaluation and based on their comments and recommendations to the Asian Football Confederation, there was a chance of him becoming either an AFC coaches instructor or an Asian regional Instructor.
“Since I have done well overall, my hopes are high,” he said while talking about his chances of becoming the first AFC coaching instructor from Tamil Nadu.
