Aiff, Hindustan Zink launches U-15 Girls’ Football Academy; India Captain Sweety Devi emphasizes the need for more such centers

The leader of the Indian women’s football team, Sweety Devi, inspired the trainees by communicating with them in the launch of the Zink Football Girls Academy on the Zawar -Mines on Thursday.

Sweety ruled the 20 girls-chosen in the age group younger than the Academy, the first of its kind in the Land-with the stories of that night when India had defeated Thailand «in their land, for their people» to qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

«Our dream is to play in the World Cup. It will be difficult teams to play in Australia to qualify, but we have time to prepare ourselves until March,» said Sweety.

She was particularly impressed by the F-Cube technology that was used for training at the Academy, with a digital wall, on which the trainees bombarded their shots and offered varied data and scientific analysis for rapid development of players.

“We are working hard to make life easy in the future. We did not have such technology, but we train with so much intensity and are so tired that we do not remember that we have a mobile phone. We have no distraction.

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The president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kalyan Chaubey praised Hindustan Zinc for the initiative and expressed the confidence that many girls from the academy would represent the country in five years.

The Chief Operating Officer of Hindustan Zinc, Kishore Kumar, said that the success of the development of about 200 football players for boys in the center had forced the team to concentrate on empowerment and inclusiveness of women since 2017.

The aim of the Academy was nicely expressed in the slogan, ‘ DESH KA SAPNA, goal APNA (India’s dream is our goal).

The chairman of Hindustan Zink, Priya Agarwal Hebbar, sought guidance from the AIFF and assured that the organization was willing to do everything to help the 20 girls develop their passion and determination to excel in the game and to stand up as strong personalities.

Maharani Nivritti Kumari Mewar appreciated the efforts and said that sports such as football played so much, and played such an important role in the lives of young people, especially in guaranteeing good mental health.

«Football means teamwork and it teaches you to be selfless in achieving the collective goal. For the girls it will be a great way to be physically strong,» said Nivritti Kumari.

Over time, the Academy hopes to house 60 girls, and the work on the development of the residential infrastructure is already working.

Kishore assured that there was no lack of resources and the organization was willing to scale up the efforts to strengthen the basis of Indian football.