Pak street children receive euphoric welcome

Karachi: Pakistan`s street children footballers returned home today to a rare rapturous dream-come-true welcome after winning the bronze medal in Brazil.

Apart from the cricket World Cup winning team of 1992 and 2009, perhaps no other sports outfit in Pakistan got such a welcome as the team received since returning home early this morning after finishing at the third position in the Street Child World Cup football in Rio De Janeiro, where they competed for the first time. The youngsters would never have imagined that some 4,000 people would show up at the Quaid-e-Azam international airport to welcome them with flowers, drums and banners. And what followed throughout the day was a dream come true for them, as not only did the Sindh Assembly members stand up and clap for them for arriving there as honorary guests but were later feted to a sumptuous dinner and cash prizes of 200,000 each from the Sindh government. Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto and his sister Bakhtawar besides other senior members of the party and Sindh cabinet were present to pay tribute to the youngsters. "It is like we have been picked up from the ground and taken to the heavens," captain of the team Sameer Ahmed told reporters. Sameer said he and his teammates had just played their heart out in the Street Child World Cup since it was the first opportunity when they got to wear Pakistan blazers and represent the country. "It was a big honour for us and we just wanted to show the world that we are more than just homeless children on the streets who have faced a life of crime, violence, drugs and abuse," he said candidly. Sameer said if he and his teammates got a chance, they would certainly like to be trained and get an opportunity to play for the Pakistan senior team and repeat their performances there. Bilawal, the son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto also announced he has invited Argentina`s legendary footballer Diego Maradona to coach the youngsters. "These youngsters have shown the amount of talent we have in every part of our society even among the underprivileged and what they can achieve if given the right opportunities and encouragement and support," Bilawal said. Pakistan`s leading goal-scorer Raziq Mushtaq who is just 15 said he savored the 13-0 victory over arch-rivals India in the tournament. "We may be uneducated and living in shelter homes but we have always known the importance of doing better than India in sports and on that day we all wanted to just win and it got us on the right track," he said. FIFA initiated the Child World Cup tournament in 2010, with the first edition held in South Africa and the second in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the World Cup that begins in June in Brazil. The Pakistan team was selected from a group of children picked from the shelter homes and from the streets of Karachi by the welfare Azad Foundation which works for the betterment of homeless and underprivileged children. Coach Abdul Rashid said the team`s performance showed there was lot of hidden football talent in Pakistan and it just needed to be tapped properly. "We trained since last October and our hardwork paid off," he added. The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) which has not been involved in selecting, preparing or funding the Street Children team has also announced a cash prize of 500,000 to be distributed among the players and has said the best players would be given qualified coaching and groomed to be part of the national team.