Rural boys of Rurka Kalan win Street Child World Cup in SA

Jalandhar: Young boys in remote Rurka Kalan village got a taste of international football recently

when they won the Street Child World Cup there. Rurka Kalan Football Club run by the Youth Football Club (YFC) of the village got an opportunity to participate in the tournament from March 15 to 21. The tournament had eight teams participating -- Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Brazil, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, Ukraine and India. Rurka Kalan boys beat South Africa 4-0 followed by 8-0 win over Ukraine and 3-1 over England to reach final in which the YFC edged out Tanzania by 1-0, Gurmangal Das Soni, President of the YFC, told reporters. The tournament, which was organised by Amos Trust, UK, was held to highlight the issues faced by people from deprived corners of the world, he said, adding that YFC`s team took part in it because of its collaboration with Khalsa Football Academy of UK.Asked how the idea of forming a football club conceived by him, Soni said, "In free time, we used to play in the village ground and assessing the enthusiasm of the boys towards the game, I finally took a decision to convert in into an academy." "Now, there are about 200 boys in the academy and we have already produced 15 top national players including Indian national team defender Anwar Ali," Soni said. Regarding the fund to run the Academy, which also has a hostel, he said total annual budget was about Rs 24 lakh, which was being collected through donations. PTI