New Delhi: Hindustan Zinc today officially launched the project “Zinc Football” to bring forward rural football enthusiasts in Rajasthan and train them for playing national and international football tournaments. The logo of the project “Zinc Football” was also launched today by Sunil Duggal, CEO of Hindustan Zinc, Annanya Agarwal, President of Vedanta Football Project, Vishal Bansal, IG Udaipur and Bishnucharan Mallick, Udaipur Collector.
Annanya, who himself is a young football enthusiast and has been following all national and international football tournaments, believes that India has immense talent in football sports but we are not able to convert these talents into professional players due to lack of infrastructure and right training. He believes that there has to be a mechanism to scout football talents from deep rural areas and bring them in the forefront. Asian Age spoke to Annanya Agarwal, the son of Navin Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Limited, on his vision for setting-up football academies for both boys and girls in India and his way forward.
“It takes about 10 years for a football player to compete in national and international football tournaments. But irony is that in India in 10 years a player plays about 80 matches as compared to about 250 matches abroad. The difference can be seen in fitness and strength. In India, the exposure to players is very less and this exposure can be seen when players are on field. If we need our players to win matches and participate in international football tournaments, we have to make them play many more matches”, says Annanya.
He believes that it is not just about playing football, it is the right training, nutrition, physical built, exposure and introduction to global technology that measures the players strength, technique and ability. India can’t be far behind when it comes to facilities.
He says, “The right age of catching children if you want them to play for India is 5-12 years. I have this vision that India should play 2026 football world cup. And for
that corporates like Vedanta have to come forward and provide long lasting and sustainable infrastructure.”
“Women football teams have fared much better even if there is not much infrastructure available for them in the country. Even though we have 30 boys in Zinc Football Academy in Udaipur, I have strong focus on bringing women football players forward and provide them excellent infrastructure both in Udaipur as well as in Goa. I want to pioneer women’s football team in India” Annanya says.
In Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc has searched for talents while going deep in the rural areas. 4500 of children were scanned and finally 30 children were shortlisted. The company has opened up 64 Community Football Centres, known more as Zinc Football Schools and have developed Zinc Football Academy at Zawar, a tribal area about 45 km from Udaipur. 30 children are being trained in this academy that is fully supported by Hindustan Zinc who have also taken the responsibility of giving scholarships to all the students for their education.
