Bhubaneswar: The initiative of All India Football Federation (AIFF) to identify talents at the grassroots level seems to have paid off with three school students of a slum in the Capital city getting selected to show their performance at the national level Youth I-League football championship starting from the next month.
For the first time someone from the State will play at the event. But the State has a little more to cheer about as three students, Chandan Nayak, Sunil Sorene and Ranjan Sorene, will represent the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools at the league that will be played for over a month across the country.
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"We will play with the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools for around 1-2 months. We will give our 100 per cent and make the State proud," said Chandan.
"We have set a target to defeat Minerva Punjab by playing outstanding football and get a chance to play for the country," said Sunil.
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It is worth mentioning that Minerva Punjab recently won the 2017 U16 Youth I-League in Mumbai by defeating Ozone FC, 3-0, in the final.
" Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools has never made it to final. So, we will try to make it this time and win the title for the school," said an elated Ranjan.
All the three are students of the Capital High School and are trained at Kalinga Football Academy here in the city.
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"We are feeling proud that for the first time students from Odisha, that too all from our school, are going to represent at the national level event. We always want our students to excel in whatever field they choose and motivate them to strive for their goals and live up their dreams," said Head Mistress of Capital High School, Sonamika Rai.
Meanwhile, the coach of the trio, Jaydev Mohapatra is confident of the footballers making it to the national team and becoming a part of the Indian football team in the future.
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