Armoury Ground in Bistupur, Jamshedpur, was teeming with budding football stars from Kolhan and Odisha early on Wednesday morning.

The boys, primarily from rural areas, dribbled impressively but their shots went astray most of the time during the opening day of the Under-10 football tournament organised for the first time by Tata Steel.

Over 750 children from 30 training centres run by the steel major in Kolhan and Odisha are participating in the two-day event that will see over 53-odd matches.

Tata Steel vice-president (corporate services) Sunil Bhaskaran graced the occasion as chief guest while corporate sustainability services chief Biren Bhuta, Joda and Noamundi mines general manager M.C. Thomas, Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TRDS) secretary Devdoot Mohanty and joint secretary Dilith Caselton were also present.

The participants were excited to visit Jamshedpur and play on even greens. " Bahut maja aaya. Bahut achha maidan hai. Hamare gaon mein aisa maidan nahin hain (We had lots of fun. The playing field was very good. We don't have such fields in our village)," said Anand Kumar Pingua (8) from Kalinganagar Training Centre in Odisha.

Sanjay Singh from Punsa Training Centre in East Singhbhum agreed. " Mujhe football khiladi banna hai. Yahan aa kar bahut achha lag raha hai. (I want to become a football player. I enjoyed this experience thoroughly)," he said.

Tata Steel initiated Under-10 football coaching in 2012.

The tournament, company officials said, was aimed at nurturing young rural talent and instilling confidence, discipline and team-building in them.

Apart from mentoring and tournament exposure, the initiative would also help the young boys make an entry into mainstream football. "Training and exposure may also help some boys to get inducted into the elite Tata Football Academy (TFA) in years to come," an official said.

Two tribal boys from Jharkhand found place at Tata Football Academy in July. Baset Hansda (16) from Jonndragora village in East Singhbhum and Bikash Balmuchu (15) of Chaibasa were spotted during a community soccer tournament held in the hinterlands earlier this year.

A number of boys trained at the Under-10 football centres have made it big.

Sameer Murmu, Jairam Hembrom, Azad Karmakar and Budhu Mardi, all from Gurma Centre, joined Army Boys Sports Company, Bihar Regiment Centre-Danapur, an infantry of Indian Army, in September. Laxman Baskey and Chaitan Hansdah from Kolabira Centre, Sanjay Mumru and Akash Singh from Gurma Centre were selected to represent TFA in the Under-15 I-League.