Darjeeling girls selected for SAI soccer team

TT, 26 Aug 2019: Girls from St Teresa Higher Secondary School, Darjeeling have been selected to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) under-17 years girls football team.

Six girls from the Darjeeling school, Rodha Rai, Dristy Dewan, Nisha Gurung, Bhawana Tamang, Khusali Rai and Senal Rai recently attended a selection camp at the KIIT University in Bhuwabanesar.

"Of them, Dristy, Khusali, Roda and Nisha were selected for the SAI team that will play the Subroto Cup in Delhi," said Kamlesh Rai, a teacher of St Teresa.

The girls will leave for Delhi on Monday after attending a week long coaching camp of the newly formed team.

St Teresa's success has not come easy.

"I realised the children in the hills can excel in hockey, football, marathon and archery. I formed girls' football team but my effort seemed to be futile as I could not get any opponent teams for my girls," said Kamlesh. "Even the organisers failed to organise tournaments for girlsThree years back, the school was identified as SAI extension centre and things started to look good. "The best thing was that we got a women football coach in Arpana Lepcha for the first three months. Then, we had Abarna Sivaraj here for one more year and with the help of the SAI extension centre coaches, our girls could groom themselves," said Kamlesh who have thanked the school's teachers for extending all support to the girls team..