Orphan girl``s dream to get Natl cap shattered

The National footbal federation has included two players from Orissa in a 22-member National squad for participation in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-13 Girls`` Football Festival to be held in Vietnam from June 21 to 29. But more than the duo``s inclusion, the non-inclusion of another girl from the state has made news. The fact that Mamali Das happens to be an orphan and lack of a passport deprived her a berth in the National squad has become the subject of heartburn in the state football fraternity. According to a release from Odisha State Women``s Football Association, the women``s football wing of Orissa Football Association, three players from the state — Subha Prava Rout, Karisma Oram and Mamali Das — had been called to attend National under-13 camps at Bhopal and Gwalior. Impressed by the trio``s performance in the camps, the selectors were said to have decided to include all of them in the National squad. Accordingly they informed the state body to arrange passports for the girls. But since Mamali``s family background were unknown — she has been residing in Bhubaneswar-based orphanage ``Sneha`` — the State body could not obtain the passport in time. The news of Mamali missing the National selection also made the rumour mill active today. It was even heard that the disheartened girl had turned mad and was roaming on the streets here. But when checked, the State football officials disclosed that Mamali was still present at the Gwalior camp and officials of Sneha had gone there to receive her. ````Mamali is expected to return home on June 20,```` OSWFA secretary Sahadev Rout confirmed. Mamali``s coach Nanda Kishore Patnaik felt sorry for the girl but expressed confidence that she would be definitely be an international one day. ````The girl is a bundle of talent. It is really unfortunate that lack of passport deprived her of a berth in the National squad. Hopefully, she would overcome the shock and work hard to become an international in the future,```` summed up Patnaik. India u-13 girls`` squad: WL Devi, ET Chanu, T Ranjita Devi, H Sunita Devi, TH Purnima Devi (all Manipur): SH Kumar (Kerala): T Bhargav (Chandigarh): Alivia, Masuka (both Karnataka): Rakshya Panwar (Uttarakhand), Joslin D``Souza, Preeti Sinde, Lusika Simoes, Salma Fernandez (all Goa): Subha Prava Rout, Karisma Oram (both Orissa): Veer Pal Kaur (Punjab): M Bhowmik (Tripura): V Sangitha, M Balalaxmi (both Pondichery): Biswa K Patel (Gujarat): S Kamjohi (Tamil Nadu).