As on the one hand with the nail-biting matches of FIFA World Cup 2018, underway in Russia, has left football fans and enthusiast around the globe in a football fever and on the other hand members of the Girls’ Football Team of Himachal Pradesh are setting their goals on a future in the sport after making it through to the Semis of National Sub-Junior Football championship 2018-19.
Twenty budding young girl footballers from the small state of Himachal Pradesh showed off their talents on the Barabati football stadium at Cuttack (Odisha) to get through to the semi-final round of the sub-junior National Football championship 2018-19.
Today to reach the semis finals they beat Uttar-Pradesh by a huge margin of seven goals.
So far the girl’s team maintained a near-perfect sheet in the tournament, scoring 45 goals and conceding just one goal. In the first match of the group round they beat Pondicherry by 28 goals to nil, in the second match they win over Maharashtra by the 10-1, and in quarter-finals, they humbled the experienced Uttar-Pradesh 7-0 to win and enter semi-finals.
Mr Deepak Sharma, General – Secretary, HPFA said: “The team managed to win every match in the group stages to get through to the semi-finals, it was a fantastic effort by everyone and they should be very proud. We will put our best efforts to reach the finals.”
Team manager Mrs Nandita Sharma said, “It is really a proud moment for Himachal Pradesh as a whole and for State football association in particular that first ever girl’s team from Himachal has reached the semis in any national championship.”
She added: “In earlier national championships, the team did not manage to move beyond the group stages but they showed improvement in this championship and with each match and certainly made it difficult for the opposition.”
Women have been playing football in states for many years. There was a time when it was not taken seriously and even a few years back team were not sent to national tournaments for participation. But after taking over the charge of girl’s football hostel at Una by Mr Deepak Sharma, the team took many challenges and showed their mettle.
He said, “Now the new achievement is the latest leap forward for women’s sport in Himachal and finally, women’s sports will be taken seriously in the state and our girls will have something to aim for.”
Women Team-Himachal, for all the talk, knew they had this history to contend with and it is to the credit of the calm and measured Mr.Deepak Sharma that he has not only coached and motivated the team with such confidence and composure, but he has now guided one of the most inexperienced squads against football giants here in Cuttack, Odisha to the last four of Sub-Junior National championship 2018-19
Girl’s football team of the state deserves huge credit – and now these expectation levels will rise even more.
Team HPFA