Ranchi to Russia: Two Teenage Girls Get FREE Tickets to Watch 2018 FIFA World Cup Live
18-year-old Shital Toppo and 19-year-old Soni are fine players, addicted to the game and keep watching videos of the sport on YouTube.
The football fever has already kicked in with the FIFA matches beginning today. For every football fan, it would be a dream to witness the action right from Russia. Ardent fans from all over the world head to Russia to support and cheer for their favourite teams. This football fandom exhibited by two teenagers from Ranchi has got them a big ticket to Russia, that too to witness the final of the FIFA World Cup which will take place on July 1. 18-year-old Shital Toppo and 19-year-old Soni are fine players, addicted to the game and keep watching videos of the sport on YouTube.
Coming from a small town, Shital faced a lot of taunts for playing the game on the village ground. 19-year-old Soni from Chari Hujar village near Bara Toli too will be joining her to Russia, along with 4 others from elsewhere. A Mumbai NGO called OSCAR (Organisation for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility) Foundation will help these girls in fulfilling their dream to watch their favourite international players fight it out for the coveted World Cup trophy. FIFA has invited OSCAR and happens to be the only such organisation to have received the invitation. FIFA has the initiative to invite youths from "underserved" communities from across the globe to transform and inspire lives.
Shital and Soni will not be just the spectators but they will also be youth representatives of India to attend the Football For Hope event. Soni who is a die-hard Sunil Chettri fan spoke to Telegraph about this wonderful opportunity. She was quoted, "We faced a lot of barbs when we joined the OSCAR Foundation centre in 2014 and played at our village grounds. But, we did not give up. I love football." Shital is a huge fan of Neymar.
Ashok Rathod, the founder of OSCAR has said, "These girls are from poor families and live in places where it is easy to fall prey to social evils such as early marriage and trafficking. For them, education and football spell empowerment and confidence." The organisation has been running centres in Jharkhand, Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka. With their work for empowerment through sports goes on, these two village girls have got the best of an opportunity to see the biggest event of their favourite sport live. We can hope at least now these girls do not have to face the taunts from the villagers for following their sport with such passion.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 14, 2018 07:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).