Twenty girls who are going to represent Jharkhand at the 20th Senior National Women Football Championship at Dibrugarh district of Assam from April 27, on Monday said that regular combined team practice could make a difference.
They blamed the lack of regular practice for their poor performance at a national platform as a team.“Combined practices are never done which should be conducted at least one month before such national meets. Our team members are always selected in the last moment making it difficult for us to coordinate like girls of Manipur, Odisha, Uttrakhand and Tamil Nadu,” Reshmi Munda, captain of the team who has played in Under-16 and Under-18 Junior India squad said on Monday while practising alongwith her mates at Birsa Munda Football Stadium.
Supporting Reshmi, the national team’s coach Prabhakar Mishra said, “This is for the first time trials for this tournament were scheduled here. Since the dates were April 18 and 19 just after the second polling phase, we had to manage maximum girls from Sports Authority of India (SAI) Ranchi itself and ignore those belonging to remote areas of the State. Obviously, the best ones from limited districts had to be selected.”
Highlighting the impact of the hurried selection, Mishra said that girls of such teams are unable to get the “proper game treatment”. “We have a football stadium for namesake since it does not fulfill basic technical requirements. So, it becomes hard to match training with quality standards, though the players are upto mark.”
“The women footballers also do not get job in our State,” he pointed out and added that it is almost “impossible” to encourage girls for national and international participations.
Despite these odds, the girls are ready to challenge the rival state teams. “12 out of 20 members in our team are first timers in senior national meet. But, we are hopeful that our eleventh hour practice sessions will bear fruitful results,” goalkeepers Pushpa Tirkey, Rita Oraon and Ranjita Hansda said.
Notably, the Jharkhand team for this meet was announced on Sunday. Mishra said that the girls are departing for Assam on April 24 and constantly praying that this time atleast they do not turn down at the initial matches. “Compared to previous state teams, this one is far better. We hope they qualify till semi-finals atleast,” Sushil Verma, SAI Jharkhand state coordinator said.