Two teenage footballers, the son of a gardener and the daughter of a taxi driver, are set to fly to London’s Queen Park Rangers Academy for a two-week training camp.
Sagar Rathod from Colaba Municipal School and Aditi Pandire from Sai Baba Path Mumbai Public School will leave for the training on October 2 along with two other young footballers, Yohaanne Poonawala from Bombay International School and Nishka Prakash from Edubridge International, who won the 10th edition of the QPR South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenger Talent Hunt.
Sagar, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, has been to Portugal and London earlier to represent Oscar Foundation and Soccer Schools for Excellence. He has been training under the Oscar Foundation for three years. “My father got me my first football studs but I’ve been getting them from the foundation ever since,” said Sagar, whose father Gopal works as a gardener with the Cricket Club of India. Much like his favourite footballer Messi, he is an attacking midfielder and wants to play for Barcelona when he grows up.
“The last time he was in London, their team was unbeatable. BBC also made a documentary on them, Mumbai Street Striker , which went on to win a BAFTA award,” said Maruti Chauhan, Sagar’s coach. Sagar said, “We saw the Manchester stadium, met Spanish footballer Juan Mata and also requested him to use ‘Namaste’ as his goal celebration, which he did in one of his matches.”
For Aditi, a resident of Parel Village, being selected was a moment of sheer joy. “I recently played in Bengaluru, but this will be my first time abroad. I’ve only seen London in films,” she said. Aditi started playing football casually but it has now become an important part of her life. Her father, Milind Panderi, said his first reaction was disbelief. “She has caught up with the other children in a very short span and has our full support,” Mr. Panderi said. Aditi has been playing for the past two years under the guidance of Chagan Chauhan. Training at Wadoo Football School of Excellence and her school alternately, the attacking midfielder wants to break the myth about women in sports and looks up to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Congress leader Milind Deora, who initiated the QPR South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenger Talent Hunt, said the event had envisioned a football tournament “not just for one particular demographic, but for children cutting across all communities and economic strata.” Everyone, he said, should get the opportunity to train with the world’s best, no matter where they come from and what their family background is.
The talent hunt was conceived and managed by Saran Sports. It attracted 6,600 children from 165 schools representing over 800 teams. Over a thousand matches were played, and 75% of the participants were from municipal and government-aided schools.
