Indian girls perform creditably at Colombo soccer festival
May 8th, 2009 - 4:52 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Largely unnoticed and unsung, 22 Indian girls, forming two teams, returned from Colombo after a creditable show in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) south central under-14 festival there from May 1 to 5.
Being a festival to encourage the game among girls at the grassroot level, there are no points to be gained from victories. Only cards - green, yellow and red - are awarded. The A and B teams of each country play 30-minute matches.
India’s girls topped the five-team festival with 21 green cards followed by Jordan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. India won all but one of their matches, which was a draw with Iran.
Expressing satisfaction with the health of sub-junior girls’ soccer in India, coach Anita Sarkar, 43, said that the present bunch of under-14 players had it in them to form a promising team for the AFC under-16 tournament. Most of the girls on the Colombo tour were also in the team that put up a good show at the last festival held in Vietnam.
Before taking the plane to Colombo the girls were put through a six-week coaching camp at Bhopal. In spite of the searing heat of the Bhopal summer and the hard playing surface, the enthusiasm of the girls was unflagging, said Sarkar. The dividends came in the shape of the 21 green cards in the hot and humid conditions in Sri Lanka, she added.
As in the previous festival in Vietnam, Tanvi Bhargava was the top scorer at Colombo, with 10 goals out of the team’s total of 61. Rani Devi (Manipur), Oshim Devi (Manipur) and Parvin (Bihar) were not far behind with nine goals each. Nikhila (Kerala) followed with eight.
Tanvi told IANS, on arrival here Wednesday, that her most memorable moment at Colombo came when an official from Malaysia came up to her to tell her that she was the festival’s top scorer.
According to Tanvi, the Indian girls, toughened by the training stint at Bhopal, did not lose their cool even when the going was rough. The Chandigarh daughter of a doctor couple, who is at school in Mayo College, Ajmer, is looking forward to playing in the India jersey in the Asian under-16 cup in a couple of years. Well she might, like several others in the under-14 team.
- Indian girls return with best performance card from AFC festival - May 07, 2009
- Indian girls learn from Vietnam football festival - Jun 30, 2008
- Rafi replaces Sushil in India's Asian Cup squad (Lead) - Jan 09, 2011
- Mary Kom eases into semis of National Boxing - Oct 14, 2011
- The 2nd Manipur International Film Festival starts in Imphal - Aug 19, 2010
- Six bronze medals for India in Vovinam meet - Aug 03, 2011
- India forced to play Rafi in Asian Cup opener - Jan 09, 2011
- In another flip-flop, AFC re-registers Bhutia in Asian Cup team (Intro Roundup) - Jan 08, 2011
- South Korea beat India 4-1 in Asian Cup - Jan 18, 2011
- Asian Games: Women's wushu silver, 9-0 hockey victory, Saina, Vijender move ahead (Roundup) - Nov 17, 2010
- Manipur hosts seventh orange festival - Dec 25, 2010
- AIFF flip-flop may cost Bhaichung a place in Asian Cup team (Roundup) - Jan 07, 2011
- Bhopal cultural festival draws huge crowds - Feb 01, 2011
- Aditi leads in Malaysia Open junior golf, Indian team on top - Sep 14, 2011
- Grover takes sole lead in U-14 category of Asian Youth Chess - Aug 06, 2009
Tags: asian football confederation, bhargava, bhopal, bihar, chandigarh, girls soccer, grassroot level, green cards, humid conditions, indian girls, junior girls, memorable moment, parvin, promising team, rani, sarkar, soccer festival, stint, tanvi, top scorer