Talented lot:Residents of Seva Illam in Cuddalore.
CUDDALORE:
For 47 residents of the Cuddalore Seva Illam, laurels do not come in a trickle but in a deluge. All of them, in the age group of 13 to 19, have made their mark in national football competitions and some of them have even won accolades in international events.
Yet they are not swept away by the honours but have their feet firmly on the ground because they have seen the vicissitudes of life. For, most of them are orphans, having lost both the parents, while some of them have mothers who cannot take care of their wards as the latter are invalids. Two of them are studying in Periyar Government Arts College and 45 in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Old Town. They are fired by the zeal to achieve success in both studies and games.
Despite only frugal meals being available – they have pongal in the mornings and a measure of cooked rice with rasam and buttermilk for lunch and supper – they are brimming with confidence. For instance, eight girls, S. Radha, K. Radhika, K. Sumitra, R. Ranjitha, K. Thenmozhi, J. Thenmozhi, S. Varalakshmi and K. Indumathi, played the Under-14 international football events at Vietnam and Colombo in 2008-2009. Besides proving her mettle in Japan, K. Thenmozhi was adjudged India's Best Emerging Football Player in the 2006 national football event for having scored 13 goals. In the Asian football event for Under-16 held at Amman, Jordan, in 2010 Sumitra, Radhika and Radha represented India.In January 2011, Radhika, Radha, Ranjitha and J. Thenmozhi won gold for Tamil Nadu in the National Women Football competitions held at Aurangabad in Maharasthra.
Having spotted their talent, the Indira Gandhi Academy of Sports and Education (IGAS) has virtually adopted them and the IGAS office-bearers, including president S. Manivannan, secretary S. Mariappan and treasurer K. Thirumalai, have been providing training the girls for three to four hours a day . The Academy has also procured kits, including the spike shoes, shorts and stockings for them. It also provides them nutritious food, including eggs, bananas and sprouted grains. Mr Mariappan says that they are technically sound but physically no match for their northern counterparts. But by sheer grit and will power, they carry on. They also face difficulties in getting passports as the parents of many of them are not alive eopardising their chances of participating in many international events.
Fr. I. Ratchagar, Principal of St. Joseph's Arts and Science College, has offered to give admission to the girls in the undergraduate courses in his institution. It is the ambition of at least three girls namely Radhika, Radha, R.Ranjitha and Thenmozhi to become I.A.S. officers. Having scored an avalanche of goals in football, it may not be difficult for them to achieve this singular goal in life.
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