Hindustan Zinc’s below 12 years, international level
residential Football Academy organized the closing ceremony of its 24-days Residential Team Zinc Football Camp at
Chittorgarh on 3rd February 2018. The event was attended by the
Chief Guest, Mr. Annanya Agarwal - President, Vedanta Football Project
and son of Mr. Navin Agarwal – Chairman, Vedanta Limited. He is spearheading
the Football Sports in all Group Companies of Vedanta. Mr. Annanya has a vision
to create world class Football players out of India and wants to aid in India’s
qualification in World Cup Football.
The Academy is going at
the grass-root level to select 40 talented & aspiring footballers, to
nurture & train them as professional players. In order to penetrate in
rural and tribal areas, the Academy is also organizing 64 Community Football
Clusters in 5 identified districts of Rajasthan that will nurture 2500 football
enthusiasts through camps to form a 20 players team each of girls and boys at
each Cluster. So far, the Academy has shortlisted 56 children through 23 Talent
Scouting Camps that saw the participation of over 3000 children from 5
districts of Rajasthan – Udaipur, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand and Ajmer.
These identified 56 children joined the 24-days Residential Team Zinc Football
Camp at Chittorgarh that started form 10th January, 2018.
During the event, Annanya Agarwal said – “There is a huge talent
that is hidden in rural and tribal areas, unexplored, and they just need
guidance, support and opportunities. I am happy to see that through Hindustan
Zinc Football Academy, we are opening the prospects for these aspiring
footballers. It is also heartening to receive such a good response from their
families and the enthusiasm of both participants & coaches is stimulating.
I am confident that some of these players will have the potential to be
selected for the national football team & clubs and would also be eligible
to participate in international football tournaments in future.”
Vinod Wagh – Site President, CSC welcomed the guests,
participants and their families during the program and briefed about the
objective of Hindustan Zinc Football Academy.
One of the participants, Raghva Janghid from Ajmer was
thankful for this wonderful opportunity where he got to learn both discipline
and technical aspects of the game. Mr. Shakeel, father of one the participants
from Chittorgarh said – “with such kind of encouragement and support, we can
see our children participating in Under-14 matches in next 2 years.”
Post
this camp, based on the performance, merit, physical, mental &
psychological attributes, the Academy has selected at-least 20-40 children who
will join Residential course of Hindustan Zinc Football Academy in Zawar,
Udaipur. At Academy, these children will undergo rigorous training to become
professional football players and play in various Local, National and
International Football Tournaments. Their training and grooming would be
monitored by experts that would include health & fitness experts and
nutrition & diet experts. Their skills, body weight, energy, strength and
stamina would be tested and monitored on regular basis.
Pavan Kaushik – Head Corporate Communication informed
“The Company’s vision is to set-up a world-class
technology based fully residential Football Academy to provide a 360 degree
holistic platform for talented footballers from Rajasthan, both boys and girls,
who will get an opportunity to get trained and play for the Indian National
Team. Hindustan Zinc has tied-up with
‘The Football Link Sport’ for setting-up this state-of-the-art Football
Academy.”
The ultimate objective is to reach out to more than 60,000
children in 100 villages and tribal areas of Rajasthan in next five years.
Also
present were the Coaches, families of participants, Hindustan Zinc and The
Football Link representatives during the event.
