Keeping its tradition with
sports, Kerala will have a football team at the eighth national
football tournament being organised by the Indian Blind Sports Association
(IBSA) in New Delhi from May 13-18. The team, undergoing coaching at
regional sports centre here now, has five members - four blind and one
partially blind.
"As we don't have a team, we decided to field one this time to represent the state. All players have lost sight late in life, so they have an idea of the game. We had called for volunteers and are training daily," said Sunil J Mathew, secretary, society for rehabilitation of visually challenged (SRVC), Kochi.
The society had an interaction with the Indian football team during their last international friendly at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here on February 3. The SRVC blind footballers used the occasion to play with Indian international players like Sunil Chettri, Jewel Raja and Nabbi when coach Wim Koevermans encouraged the team to have a penalty shootout. "We wanted to bring to the fore talented blind footballers, some of whom lost sight late in life due to accidents, illnesses, etc. and give them an opportunity to play the game and represent the country too at some stage," Sunil said.
"The game is slightly different from the normal football as it has only five players, including the goalkeeper. The ball is slightly smaller and makes a sound of small iron ball-bearings clanging together. It does not bounce hard. The four players on the field are blindfolded so that they are totally blind. The goalkeeper is partially blind. The team coach stands behind the opposite team's goalpost and shouts instructions, based on which the players move," said A David, director-football, Indian Blind Sports Association, Delhi.
David, who is here to coach the team, said the chances of injury are very high if the players don't concentrate on the coach's instructions. "While the game is on, we expect the audience to be completely silent so as not to disturb the players," he said. Girish, one of the team members, was a football player who lost his sight in a bike accident. The other players are Ranith, Nauffel, Pramod, Shafeeq and Vinod. M V Rajan and Sunil Mathew are the coaches. "We hope to field a team for kabbadi next year. This year, we will have a participant in powerlifting too," said Sunil.
"As we don't have a team, we decided to field one this time to represent the state. All players have lost sight late in life, so they have an idea of the game. We had called for volunteers and are training daily," said Sunil J Mathew, secretary, society for rehabilitation of visually challenged (SRVC), Kochi.
The society had an interaction with the Indian football team during their last international friendly at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here on February 3. The SRVC blind footballers used the occasion to play with Indian international players like Sunil Chettri, Jewel Raja and Nabbi when coach Wim Koevermans encouraged the team to have a penalty shootout. "We wanted to bring to the fore talented blind footballers, some of whom lost sight late in life due to accidents, illnesses, etc. and give them an opportunity to play the game and represent the country too at some stage," Sunil said.
"The game is slightly different from the normal football as it has only five players, including the goalkeeper. The ball is slightly smaller and makes a sound of small iron ball-bearings clanging together. It does not bounce hard. The four players on the field are blindfolded so that they are totally blind. The goalkeeper is partially blind. The team coach stands behind the opposite team's goalpost and shouts instructions, based on which the players move," said A David, director-football, Indian Blind Sports Association, Delhi.
David, who is here to coach the team, said the chances of injury are very high if the players don't concentrate on the coach's instructions. "While the game is on, we expect the audience to be completely silent so as not to disturb the players," he said. Girish, one of the team members, was a football player who lost his sight in a bike accident. The other players are Ranith, Nauffel, Pramod, Shafeeq and Vinod. M V Rajan and Sunil Mathew are the coaches. "We hope to field a team for kabbadi next year. This year, we will have a participant in powerlifting too," said Sunil.
Source : T.O.I , 30th April 2013
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