Women footballers of the Aul Athletics Association. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, Sept. 15: A cluster of backward villages in Aul teshil region of Kendrapara district continues to dribble past all odds to reach the goal of churning out the best women footballers for the state.

This success story began about eight years ago when the mini stadium of Aul block hosted a series of exhibition of women’s football matches. Since then, many women footballers from Aul have donned the national jersey.

“It’s an amazing story. Although the girls are mostly from poor economic background, patronage of the Aul Athletics Association has resulted in many of them entering the soccer arena,” said Raj Kamal Mandal, a former coach of women’s football and district sports officer of Kendrapara.

At present, nine girls from Aul are international players representing the country at various levels.

“While three local girls are part of senior national team, the junior (under-19) squad includes two players from the Aul belt. Five footballers from this area represent the country in the sub-junior (under-16) team,” Mandal said.

The state women’s football team is virtually packed with girls from Aul. Thirty-six girls have found their place in Orissa’s senior, junior and sub-junior women’s football teams. It is a matter of pride that they have overcome poverty and social stigma to achieve success.

Most of these emerging stars are from far-flung and unknown villages such as Malapatana, Giribandha, Goudpatana, Mulasahi, Niala, Kanteipur, Telepatana, Dhanamandal and Adheikana.

“I never dreamt that I would play football for my country. The Aul Athletics Association has helped me build a career in football,” said Alochana Senapati, who represents the senior national women’s football team.

“This region is emerging as the grooming ground for women’s football in India. It’s heartening to note that few of the players have already started receiving job offers from various organisations. Our help, coupled with their sincerity, have paved the way for success,” said Debendra Sharma, vice-president of the Orissa Women’s Football Association.

“After a few exhibition matches in 2008, we invited the girls of Aul to take part in a training camp. The response was amazing. Over 40 girls eagerly waited for the training session to commence. Since then, they never looked back. At present, we have a reserve pool of around 50 girls who undergo training at the Aul stadium,” Sharma said.