Dream come true for Kolkata kids headed for Germany

By IANS,

Kolkata : Suraj Dhopi lives in a city orphanage and like most of his age in a soccer-mad metropolis he dreams of emulating the feats of football legends like Oliver Kahn. But little did he imagine that one day he would not only shake hands with him but also get to visit the country from which he came – Germany.


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“It is dream come true for me. Hopefully now I can become something in my life,” Suraj, 14, said as his name was announced among five kids who got selected to train at Bayern’s academy in Munich.

Selected from a list of 30 children, the five winners will head for Munich for a month long training camp next month.

In an event organized by Adidas, a small clinic was organized for the budding footballers at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club (CC&FC) here Monday, on the eve of Bayern Munich’s legendary goalkeeper Oliver Kahn’s farewell match against leading Indian club side Mohun Bagan here.

A small competition was organised, from which Yohan Confectioner, Suraj Dhopi, Joel Fernandes, Suvam Sarkar and Jiyarat Ali were selected as the best talents .

The 30 children, including these lucky five, got to learn some skills from the great Kahn, who besides his goalkeeping skills also taught them dribbling, shooting and passing. Some students of the German School in New Delhi were also present at the clinic.

It was a lovely afternoon, where some 200 people at the CC&FC got a taste of German football, before heavy showers cut short the exercise.

The orphanage is run by Wolfgang Mueller, a German resident of Kolkata since 1998, who said that Bayern had been funding it since their first visit here in 2006. Around 41 children of the orphanage will watch the match from the VIP box Tuesday.

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