Kendrapara: Ever heard of a cricketer honing the skill of budding footballers? It’s true in a region which was once the nursery of Odisha’s women’s football.
The budding talents of the Aul-Rajkanika belt of Kendrapara district are now being guided and coached by a cricketer, who represented Kendrapara in state-level inter- district Kalahandi cup cricket tournament.
Things have come to such a pass in the cluster of villages in the belt, which churned out talents to don the country’s jersey in the past, due to lack of governmnet support, said AUL MLA Debendra Sharma.
There was a time when as many as 16 girls from these areas had represented the country in both the junior and senior level. But the golden days are gone. At present these areas have single representation in country and state level, said Sharma who is also former Vice-president of Odisha Women’s Football Association.
The budding players are deprived of proper coaching. The government is yet to depute fulltime football coach. The local association lacks resources to recruit private coaches. As a result precious talents are wasted due to lack of government support, he said.
Sharma said "the need of the hour is to have a government-run sports hostel in Aul to revive the lost glory. Whatever was achieved in past years was due to private sponsorship and patronage. The state government has done nothing except sending a coach for fortnight every year. These talented footballers need coaching round the year”.
District Sports Officer Loknath Panigrahy said "the sports and youth affairs department has not deputed coach in the past years. The amazing girls from Aul have excelled due to initiative of local football and athletic association. We have requested the higher-ups for deployment of a fulltime coach for Aul women footballers."
— PTI