19-Year-Old's Dream To Play For India

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    • Publish Date: Nov 1 2016 11:04AM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Nov 2 2016 10:50AM
19-Year-Old's Dream To Play For India

 


Md. Ashique Kuruniyan secured a loan move to La Liga club Villarreal's third division team.  It is for the first time that a footballer from home-grown Indian academy has been selected by a top Spanish club to ply his trade in Europe.The Kerala-born winger, who represented India in the Under-18 category in the Asian Champions Trophy, has been selected in the Indian team for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Championships. Now 19, Kuruniyan said he was keen to make a mark in Spain and return to India a better player. "This is a dream come true. All these years, we would admire these top clubs and their players from afar, but thanks to FC Pune City and Villarreal, I will get a chance to play at one of the most respected clubs in Spain," said Ashique.  Hailing from Malappuram district of Kerala, a place rich in football heritage, the forward was selected by the now defunct I-League club Pune FC to be part of their academy. "I arrived from Malappuram (Kerala). I came to Pune for an open trial with Pune FC and that's how I was selected. The original Pune FC academy helped me a lot in getting my confidence up. They have supported me well, regardless of my position in the team or out of it on international duty. Getting selected for the national age group teams was my biggest achievement while at the Pune FC academy," he is quoted as saying by Goal.com. Kuruniyan now looks forward to learning the tricks of the trade and honing his skills further. "I'm really proud to have this opportunity given to me. Heading to Villarreal, which is a big club, will give me the opportunity to work with some good coaches and players. I go with the aim of improving myself. The club is sending me on loan and I have complete confidence in myself. I know the Spanish are culturally different, but it's the impetus of every player to adjust to his setting as fast as possible. I have to be receptive to the settings there and adjust," he said. "Learning from the coaches and players there is going to be a bonus for me. My ambition is to eventually get a crack into the Indian national team. So, this trip will aid my ambitions in a big way," he said.  Villarreal President Fernando Roig said this is just the beginning of identifying good talent from India and giving them a chance to play against in their youth team. "Villarreal CF was more than happy to absorb Md. Ashique Kuruniyan in their side because we saw the spark in him. Our coaches will work on him and we will aim to realise his true potential. His development as a player is given and this will only bode well for football in India in general. We thank FC Pune City for facilitating this move and hope this inspires a lot more young talent to make it big in Europe," Roig is quoted in an earlier release.

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Sarath Kumar RM Bethel Mat Hr Sec School

You truly deserve it. Great going.

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