Rural Jharkhand girls headed for Spain

Kolkata: Eighteen rural girls from Jharkhand are all set to board a Madrid-bound flight on Thursday to play Donosti Cup football tournament in Spain from July 1-6.

The girls will represent Yuwa-India, an NGO, and compete in the U-14 category in the international youth football tournament at San Sebastian. Over 400 teams from 30 countries will vie for top honours in 12 boys and girls categories with the matches being 50 minutes affair. The team will play three games in their group while the first will be against Wisconsin International of the USA and further games will depend on the team`s win/loss ratio in the first round. The team will also be visiting Santiago Bernabeu Stadium of Real Madrid on July 7 and then travel to Vitoria-Gasteiz for the Gasteiz cup and return to Kolkata on July 13. Excited about the 17-day Spanish trip, Yuwa-India captain Rinki Kumari said, "Spain being No 1 in world football, we are all are looking forward to it. Never ever we thought of this, we are hoping to get maximum from this exposure trip." PTI