Guwahati, Feb 5: Sixteen-year-old Madhurjya Bora could not ask for more.
The Assam junior team footballer will be in the stands during English Premier League matches not as a fan but as an invitee trainee of the Manchester United Soccer Schools in England.
Madhurjya is the first Assam player to qualify for a three-month programme in the institution. He will leave for England along with three others from India. "The date of travel is yet to be specified," Madhurjya, who hails from Nagaon town, told The Telegraph over phone from Bangalore where he is a trainee at the Ozone Football Academy.
The three-month drill will involve intensive football training, attending English Premier League matches, a sightseeing trip and a competitive football match against one of the leading clubs of Manchester.
An Assam under-19 team player, Madhurjya was the only under-17 player to be selected from among the 600 aspirants who attended a talent scouting trial organised by the English club in Guwahati on January 12 and among 31 from across the country to be picked by the club's coaches in the final round in Bangalore. The trials were held in both under-17 and under-15 categories and two players from each age group have been selected from India.
"I feel overwhelmed to be selected for this once-in-a-life-time opportunity. I will give my best to hone my skills during the coaching programme. I hope to get the opportunity to watch some of the soccer greats of the world perform in the Premier League during the camp," said Madhurjya, who started his football coaching under Dulal Ahmed at Nurul Amin Stadium in Nagaon.
It took Madhurjya a little over three years to draw the attention of some of the best coaches of the world and get selected for the training programme.
Madhurjya, who attended the national under-19 trials, also participated in a talent search camp organised by the All India Football Federation to pick youngsters for the under-17 Fifa World Cup to be held in India this year. He could not impress the spotters when he was asked to play a right winger; a rather uncomfortable position for a striker.
A Class X student in Bangalore, Madhurjya aspires to represent the country at the international level and play professional football in India and abroad. His father, Manjul Madhav Bora, a sericulture department official, said: "This is definitely going to boost his morale. He was left very disappointed after he did not get selected for the Fifa junior World Cup squad camp. It is also going to give me and his mother the motivation to support him in his football career."
Appreciating Madhurjya's feat, Assam Football Association secretary Ankur Dutta said: "It is a great piece of news for football in Assam. We feel proud of him."
Before Madhurjya, Shillong Lajong FC forward Alen Deory had trained at Florida-based IMG Academy on a Reliance sponsorship for a few years, while nine-year-old Assam youngster Chandan Boro was recently picked by Tata Trusts to be trained for six years at Bitburg in Germany.
