Five footballers forced to work as labourers

Kaithal (Haryana), April 16

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In another case of sportspersons facing hardships, Haryana’s five promising footballers, all girls, are being forced to work as farm labourers.

The players — Ritu, Sheetal, Poonam, Sonia and Sudesh — all hail from Manas village of Kaithal district and are students of Government Senior Secondary School. They have won medals in prestigious tournaments, but are working as agriculture labourers to eke out a living.

Ritu was a part of the team that won a gold medal in the National School Games for girls organised in Goa in December last year.

Sudesh was a member of the U-16 National Games held in Ranchi in 2013 and won the gold medal. She was also a part of the gold medal-winning team in the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) held the same year.

Poonam helped her team win a silver medal twice in the National School Games for Girls -- once as part of U-14 team and then in U-17.

The players helped their team win a silver medal in state-level championships twice.

Their coach Dilbag Singh told reporters today that despite being such accomplished players, these girls go to fields to sow crops to make both ends meet.

He said the kind of diet they were getting was far from nutritious and if something was not done for them, these budding talents would not be able to make headway in sport.

Ritu and Sheetal’s father Rajpat runs a small tyre and tube puncture shop in the village.

Ritu and Sheetal said during sowing and harvest seasons of paddy and wheat, they go to fields to work as labourers.

They said they were very much interested in football and were working hard to bring laurels for the state and country, but were not able to devote as much time to the sport as they would like to. The parents of other girls too work as labourers. PTI