‘Team has good mixture of young, senior players’

WASEEM YOUSUF

Age: 20

Position: Mid Field

Teams played: Makhdoomia Sports, Maharaja Sports, JK Forest and JK Bank

Employer Team: JK Bank

Waseem inherited football from his father Muhammad Yousuf Makhdoomi who was a well-known footballer of his times. Waseem was imparted basic coaching by his father. He started playing professional football from Makhdoomia Sports Club and within no time attracted attention of big clubs of the valley. Super Division league side, Maharaja Sports, selected Waseem and he impressed every one with his skills. In premier league, he was selected by one of the top football sides of the valley, JK Forest team. Playing for JK Forest, within and outside state, Waseem finally joined JK Bank this year.Waseem first represented state in 47th national school games in 2000-01 at West Bengal. In Subroto Mukherjee Cup he has represented state twice in 2002 and 2003.After that he represented state in two school national games in 2004 and 2005 in Bangalore and Srinagar. He also represented state in 41st junior national championship. He has twice represented Kashmir University in inter-university football tournaments.Waseem was trained in Sports Authority of India academy for a year. Apart for junior and school national, he has played in various national level tournaments with JK Forest and JK Bank.Experts count Waseem as highly talented player and say and in coming years he will be reckoned among the top footballers of the state. Currently he is in his best form and that can prove beneficial for JK team.The only negative about him is that he quickly diverts his attention from the game, otherwise he has all the abilities, which a midfielder should possess, experts say.About JK team’s chances in upcoming Santosh Trophy, he said, “I’m hopeful we would put a good show as the team has a good mixture of young and senior players. We had a nice practice at the coaching camp.”

Apeared In Greater Kashmir on May 18 -2009-http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=18_5_2009&ItemID=5&cat=4