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Tibetan women soccer team players
at a training session in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.
(Photo:
IANS) |
Dharamsala: The first
Tibetan national women's football team is all set to keep its date
with the ball.
Trained by the Tibetan National Sports Association (TNSA), a
non-governmental organisation based in this town, also known as
Little Lhasa, the team comprises girls from nine Tibetan
Children's Village (TCV) Schools and will clash with a local
Indian team in an exhibition match.
The occasion: the 18th edition of the Gyalyum Chemo Memorial Gold
Cup Football Tournament to be played at Upper TCV School ground
here during May 26-June 5.
Instituted in the memory of the Dalai Lama's mother, the
tournament is a platform for the Tibetans-in-exile to protect
their identity.
"Though most of the Tibetan schools-in-exile have football teams,
this is the first official national team of Tibetan women, coached
by American footballer Cassie Childers for six months. This will
be its first official match," TNSA executive secretary Kelsang
Dhundup told IANS.
"We have a plenty of young talent and we are hopeful of forming an
international women's football team within one or two years,"
Dhondup added.
Manjushree S. Roy, former deputy director general (Press
Operations) of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, has
designed uniform for the women's team and this will be launched
during the exhibition match.
"We are physically and mentally ready to clash with the Indian
team. During the training sessions, Childers gave us good
team-building tips and explained technical aspects of the game,"
said Taru Yeshe, a player from this town.
She said the team, TCV Girls Team, is made up of students from TCV
Schools in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Another player, Padma Dolma, said: "We are aiming to clash with a
team of Tibetans based in Europe in the near future."
Former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia and former New
Zealand World Cup player Tim Brown, who have been invited for the
football tournament, will witness the exhibition match.
Speaking about the tournament, Dhondup said 19 clubs - two from
Nepal and the rest from India - comprising mainly college students
would participate.
Tibetan Prime Minister-in-Exile Lobsang Sangay will be the guest
of honour at the closing ceremony of the tournament June 5.
McLeodganj, on the outskirts of this town, is the headquarters of
the Tibetan government-in-exile. Around 140,000 Tibetans live in
exile, of whom over 100,000 are in different parts of India.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
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