KOCHI, May 11, 2016
Updated: May 11, 2016 01:43 IST
Enabling the visually challenged to live their football dreams
M. P. Praveen
The academy is being planned as an incubator, where inmates will be
given football and vocational training.
The academy is being planned as an incubator, where inmates will be
given football and vocational training.
India’s first football academy for the visually challenged to come up
in Kochi by year-end
Their vision may be impaired, but their dreams need not be.
As visually challenged footballers imagine their own Lionel Messi and
Christiano Ronaldo acts, support is in the offing to light up those
dreams. A football academy for the visually challenged, claimed to be
India’s first, is likely to turn operational in Kochi by the end of
this year. The primary goal is to build a national squad capable of
qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics. The academy will be run by the
Kerala Blind Football Federation.
Last September, the Indian blind football team had a crack at
qualifying from Asia for the Rio 2016 Paralympics. The eventual
qualifiers Iran and China trounced India and the country ended up with
a devastating five straight defeats.
“We are already in talks with a few pan-India corporate houses for
support. The academy is being planned as an incubator, where the
inmates would be given both football and vocational training – the
latter to enable them to pursue an independent life,” said Sunil J.
Mathew, sporting director of the Kerala Blind Football Federation, an
initiative of the Kochi-based Society for Rehabilitation of Visually
Challenged (SRVC).
The academy would need an initial investment of around Rs. 50 lakh for
the first year. Its operations would be scaled up in due course,
depending on corporate support and the demands of potential
beneficiaries.
Initially, a batch of 20 talented young players, including those who
have already played for India, would be admitted to the academy.
Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/enabling-the-visually-challenged-to-live-their-football-dreams/article8581579.ece?homepage=true
Comments to: [email protected] Copyright© 2016, The Hindu
Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of
mobile phones / Tabs on:
http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in
Search for old postings at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
To unsubscribe send a message to
[email protected]
with the subject unsubscribe.
To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please
visit the list home page at
http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
Disclaimer:
1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the
person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity;
2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent
through this mailing list..
