FIFA U-17 Women’s WC
FIFA U-17 Women’s WC: ASTAM ORAON spent her childhood in a small, out-of-the-way village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Telephone service was spotty, and power outages were common.
Her parents make ends meet by working as daily wagers when they aren’t harvesting crops for the majority of the year.
The parents of Sudha Ankita Tirkey, like Astam, are farm laborers. Her family went hungry in 2020 since her parents couldn’t find work due to the Covid lockdown. However, Sudha’s parents never told her to give up the sport of football.
FIFA
On October 11, two girls named Astam and Sudha will be among the six from Jharkhand on the Indian side that faces the United States in the opening match of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. In addition to Astam and Sudha, the team also features Jharkhand natives Anjali Munda, Purnima Kumari, Nitu Linda, and Anita Kumari.
The final will be held on October 30 in Navi Mumbai, one of the three venues hosting the tournament’s seventh edition together with Bhubaneswar and Goa. Four groups of four will determine which of the 16 teams, including defending champions Spain and Brazil, will advance to the quarterfinals.
India, who qualified as hosts and are participating in a FIFA tournament for the first time, will face tough competition in Group A, including the United States, Morocco, and the tournament favorites, Brazil.
However, Coach Thomas Dennerby is confident in the skills of his team. The five ladies from Jharkhand are anticipated to make up the starting XI, despite the fact that no players hailing from the three host cities are included in the roster.
As a left-back, Astam is a strong candidate for captain. Her parents, seeing the absence of chances for their daughter in Gumla, decided to send her to Saint Colombus Collegiate in Hazaribagh, a four-hour journey away, so that she could play football.
Statement
She was the team’s initial left midfielder. S Pradhan, coach of the Jharkhand team, told The Indian Express that while his midfielder was “excellent on the ball,” she lacked the ability to track back to defend.
She was selected for the India camp after displaying her skills at the 2019 U-17 nationals in Kolhapur. She’s put in a lot of extra effort to improve her skills. “The coach must have noticed that she is suited for defense, even though she came into training as a midfielder,” Pradhan added.
Purnima Kumar, whose parents are farmers, is Assam’s defensive partner and has earned a reputation as a tough and aggressive player.
Nitu Linda, a midfielder for the Jharkhand state team, is a promising young talent who honed her skills at the Ranchi Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility. She may be one of the shortest players, but her skills and technical understanding put her at the top of the team sheet.
Remark
After losing her mother at a young age, Linda had a difficult upbringing. Her father, a farm labourer, never once discouraged her from having fun. She’s going to turn some serious heads. It wouldn’t shock me if she got offers from major teams after this competition, her coach Pradhan remarked.
SAI
Anjali Munda, a goalkeeper, also attended the SAI facility for training. The position of goalie wasn’t always her forte. As a player, she was most suited for the defensive end of the field. She started playing soccer when Pradhan suggested she try out for the goalie position.
Every time she takes the field, she towers over everyone else. A defender, she insisted, and nothing more. Because there don’t seem to be many tall ladies playing Indian football, I was able to persuade her that she would have more prospects as a goalie, as Pradhan said.
Anita Kumar, a teammate of Anjali’s, ignored the teasing she and her family received from the villagers “for wearing shorts” because she saw football as a route out. She used to play right back, but she recently switched to the forward position and has excelled for India in their warm-up games.
The fact that she has ventured outside her usual behavior pattern is not unique. Astam, who was formerly isolated from the outside world but is now poised to represent her country at the U-17 World Cup, is just one example of the many players on the team who have remarkable backstories.