9-year-old Chandan Boro has been selected to train for a period of six years at Bundesliga club TSG Hoffenheim. The son of a garbage collector and a tea shop helper, Chandan has turned tables on the life of poverty he seemed destined for by winning a scholarship that shall pay for his football training and all other expenses till 2022. The boy from Udalguri district in Assam will be travelling to Bittburg in Germany in a month’s time to complete a sensational story.
The selection trials camp was organised at Kokrajhar last month by by Tata Trust in association with U Sports Mumbai and TSG Hoffenheim under a football development programme aimed at unearthing of U-15 talents in the football world. Five others had been selected alongside Chandan for a final phase of the selections, in which Chandan pipped his competitors to land a ticket for Germany.
Chandan is a fourth standard student of North Harisinga LP School in his hometown, a region very close to the Bhutan border, an impoverished area which has not seen much joy in recent times. His parents Nripen Boro and Bina Boro have never ventured to visit Assam’s capital city, and had not harboured much hopes for the footballing career their son hoped for.
Till Tata Institute came calling in June. Now, Chandan’s story can be held up as an example for enthusiastic young footballers in the country, even if they are from the remotest Indian village.
17 young Indian players had been signed up by Hoffenheim for a similar programme last year. It had been said then that they would be a part of the U Dream Haryana Football Club when they return to India after their stint in Germany. All the selected players on that occasion had been from the big cities, however.
