Wadoo, Ishfaq spend day with future footballers

ABID KHAN
Srinagar, Dec 31: In a bid to boost the morale among the youngsters, international stars, Mehraj-ud-Din Wadoo and Ishfaq Ahmad, spent the day in playing with the budding footballers of the valley in the Biscoe School ground here on Wednesday. The duo is currently on vacation and both have decided to use the opportunity to spend their time with the young footballers to hone their skills. Meraj-ud-Din was keener to see the quality of football improve in the valley and has proactively been rendering his time to the players. “I want to make a full use of the vacation period to train the young footballers,” he said. “Two years back, hundreds of youngsters had benefited in the youth development camp held by the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association.”Expressing satisfaction over the abundance of the talent in the valley, Wadoo said that if proper facilities were extended to the players, many of them would represent India at the international level. “These kids have amazing talent and are ready to learn things and follow instructions.” Ishfaq, the main striker of India’s oldest club, Mohan Bagan, described youngsters as the mainstay of the game. “Apart from other things, such as, infrastructure etc, training is the key to the quality of football in the valley,” he said. “I’m a little disappointed that I cannot spend more time with the youngsters.” He said he and Wadoo would be training youngsters in the camp sponsored by Iqbal Sports. Amid the presence of international footballers, the Biscoe team was preparing for the Christian Gold Cup scheduled to be held in Jammu from January 1.Those watching the two greats play with the youngsters applauded their presence in the field. The players are being trained by NIS football coach Sajid Dar. “We’ve been practising here for the past two weeks now,” he said. “The players are good and are learning amazingly quickly.” Dar said that it was good to see Ishfaq and Mehraj spending their time with the youngsters. “It is not for the first time they have shared their experiences with the youngsters,” he said. “They have always readied themselves to help youngsters.”

( published in greater kashmir on january -01-09...link http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=1_1_2009&ItemID=5&cat=4)