After 2 years,Sajid returns to UT… a national hero

Wearing his trademark never-ending smile,Mohammad Sajid trudged and his eyes moved all over the ground throughout the 90 minutes that he stayed on the field at the Sector 17 Football stadium.

Wearing his trademark never-ending smile,Mohammad Sajid trudged and his eyes moved all over the ground throughout the 90 minutes that he stayed on the field at the Sector 17 Football stadium. His return to the venue after a gap of two years was as nostalgic for him as it was welcome for St Stephens School,Sector 45 – the team that desperately needed a leader to maneuver their potential and show them the way in the on-going Mir Iqbal Hussain football Tournament for under 16.

But he is no longer the same player that last played on the same ground two years ago,in the St Kabir Trophy for Under-13 Football Championship. He was an unknown entity then,but now he wears the mantle of a player that has led the Indian Under-16 team in SAFF Championship. In the last two years,Sajid has carved a career chart where he has hit the highs every time he stepped on the field,wearing the Indian hue on his lean body.

It is an emotional return to the place where I had started my career in football. So many things have changed in the last two years, shared Sajid,a product of St Stephens Football Academy.

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Sajids meteoric rise coincided with the performance of the Chandigarh players at both national and international stage. After Sajid,another player from Chandigarh,K Lalramzauva,got the opportunity to lead the Indian Under-16 team that qualified for the 2012 AFC Championship. This was for the first time that two players from Chandigarh wore the captains arm-band in back-to-back international tournaments. Players from Chandigarh are being seen in high regards at the junior national level. The coaches motivate us a lot and it is a great feeling to live our dreams. The fact that there are other players from Chandigarh,both in Under-16 and Under-19 national team,has really helped me settle down. Goa is almost like a new home to me, shared the Maler Kotla-born lad who plays as a stopper for his team.

If the experience at the IMG Academy in Florida,United States,where he along with the Indian Under-15 team trained for nine months helped him in blossoming into a fine player,then qualifying for AFC Under-16 Championship was among one of his most satisfying sojourns so far. Our confidence is really high now. Next years AFC Championship remains our biggest challenge now and we will begin our preparation for the event soon, said Sajid.

Sajids participation in the on-going Mir Iqbal Hussain Football Tournament for under-16 is important from Chandigarhs perspective if they are to do well in the North Zone under-16 national Tournament next month. He is fatigued and need rest,but he needed to participate in the event so that he could be selected for the Chandigarh team for the North Zone tournament. After the event,he will fly with other players to IMG Academy in December,where they will train for six more months. His presence has also boosted the confidence of the St Stephens players, informed coach Surinder Singh,under whose tutelage Sajid turned from a raw into an exciting talent.

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