A group of girls from Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, many of them representing the Thiruvalluvar University and whose families were destroyed by the 2004 tsunami, are football champions today. And they have S Mariappan a retired headmaster, to thank for that.
A decade ago, these 33 girls studied at the government school in Cuddalore Mr Mariappan taught in. He often saw them kneeling down as punishment for not bringing stationery or notebooks they could hardly afford. So he decided to adopt them.
"I know only football and through football I wanted to show them good world. So I started with them 10 years back and now the dream has come true," said Mr Mariappan, who himself is a trained coach and former member of the Indian football team.
It costs around Rs 60,000 per month to look after the girls who stay in two houses Mr Mariappan has rented out for them. He spends his Rs 35,000 pension on them; the rest is arranged by the college and locals.
Every morning the girls and their coach practice for two hours on the Anna stadium grounds.
Though they are able to meet their day-to-day demands, the girls still look forward towards a proposed soccer league which they hope will improve their lives. "Boys are lucky. Like IPL, they have ISL. We need such opportunities and more matches for girls too," said Radhika, a member of the under 16 team.
Canada Olympic Women's Football Team Docked Six Points Over Drone Scandal Israel Army Says Hezbollah Fired Rocket That Killed 10 In Annexed Golan Argentina Recover From Chaos, Register First Olympics 2024 Win 3 Students Dead After Flooding In Delhi Coaching Centre Basement At Olympics Opening Ceremony, Drag Parody Of 'The Last Supper' Draws Flak Kamala Harris Cuts Down Donald Trump's Lead Sharply, Show Latest Polls Will Quit Politics If Attempts Are Made To Disturb Reservation: Praful Patel DSSSB Exam Schedule 2024 Released For Recruitment To Various Posts AAP's Atishi Calls For Meeting After Delhiites Complain Of Blue Tap Water Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.