Hunt for Indian talents heats up
Published on: Friday, June 17, 2016
Kuala Lumpur: Names such as Tan Sri Dr M Jegathesan and V Angamah in athletics, Datuk R Arumugam and Datuk M Chandran in football and Datuk Punch Gunalan in badminton, bring back fond memories of the immense contributions by the Indians to the Malaysian sporting arena. Many more have etched their names as well in many of the prestigious, local, regional and international meets. Even the sports officials were mostly Indians representing the country at every level. That is in the past. Sadly, today the community's contribution to sports is negligible.
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Over the last three decades the community has seen tremendous socio-economic changes and a change in their aspirations as well. Hence, the Indian supremacy in sports diminished. However, the sportsmanship is still very much alive in many of the Indians. Thus there are some who are determined to see the return of the Indian glory in sports back to the country's sports arena. One of the initiatives to usher a new dawn in sports is being spearheaded by the Malaysian Indian Football Association (Mifa) through the Beyond Football Programme launched earlier this year. "A key vision of the programme is to enable players to make football a career, as youths can now earn a decent living from the game.
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"By generating passion towards football, we also aim to draw Indian youths away from undesirable activities," Mifa President Datuk T Mohan said. With more than 1,700 youths including few non-Indians having joined the programme in 37 centres throughout the Peninsular, Mifa's ultimate aim is to have at least 10 percent of them choose football as their professional career.
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"Football generates the highest income in sports. With more than 40 youths at each centre, we want at least two of them with potential to become professional players. "Apart from that, we want to train a minimum of five as professional referees, another five as young coaches, and the rest being channelled to sports administration and other related avenues in football," Mohan said. Aided by a RM2.6 million grant from the Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community (Sedic), a unit under the Prime Minister's Department, Mifa runs the 37 centres with 66 coaches as well as 37 coordinators. With the Beyond Football Programme now in place, Mifa plans to next launch the Training of Trainers (ToT), a programme with Tamil school teachers in mind in 2017. "Most teachers now are not professionally trained in teaching sports. So, it is difficult for them to train and encourage students to take up sports at a young age. "This is where we feel we can play a part in bridging the gap," he added. To attract more youngsters to the Beyond Football programme, Mifa has also named former football greats like Datuk M Karathu and Datuk Santokh Singh as "Football Ambassadors". They will travel around the country to encourage players in the programme and share their vast knowledge. During Bernama's recent visit to one of the centres in Kluang, Johor, there were about 100 football enthusiasts from as young as seven to 20 years old, showing up at the training field as early as 8.00 am on a Saturday morning and their strong passion for the game was evident. The centre's coordinator T Rajandran said despite a football development programme for the community in the district having been initiated about 20 years ago with the establishment of Kluang Indians Football Association (Kifa), the impact and reception to Beyond Football is far better. "It is a great effort from Mifa to develop the game at the grassroots in the country. We are thankful to Mifa for helping us identify so many young footballers here. We never knew there were so many talented youths in Kluang before this programme started. "Our target for this year is to produce at least two Under-16 and three U-17 back-up players for either the Malaysia Indian Sports Council-Malaysia Indian Football Association (MISC-Mifa) squad or Johor Darul Ta'zim's (JDT) Academy programmes," he added. Rajandran highlighted that players were willing to travel from other towns like Chaah in Segamat (about 65km away) and Kota Tinggi (about 90km) to the training sessions on every Friday and Saturday mornings. "With allowances for the five coaches and one goalkeeper coach, jerseys, balls, training equipment and drinks provided by Mifa, we do not expect anything but success from the players with all the effort being put in," he said. For the centres' head coach, G Vanithasan, discipline is the most important element for grassroots level players to achieve success in the sport. "To train more grassroots level players we have to ensure good discipline and high motivation. They only spend about five hours in every session with us. "This means they spend more time at home and parents play a crucial role in keeping them on the path of discipline. "Besides the training, we also offer motivational talks and visit the players' schools regularly to monitor them," he added. R Ajaynath, 17, of SMK Taman Kluang Barat is one of those in the Beyond Programme at Kluang. His dream is to make it as a star striker. "I wish to play for JDT one day. Currently, I am still in the selection phase for JDT V (Under 17) and to be shortlisted," said the fan of English football club Arsenal and Germany international, Mesut Ozil. Mifa was established in 2004 to serve as a springboard for talented young Indian footballers to elevate their football skills while unveiling young talents. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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