New Delhi: Delhi’s Mukul Mohindra is the North Zone goalkeeper selected to participate in the final selection trials of Airtel Rising Stars, scheduled to take place in Bangalore in mid-September 2012.
The goalkeeper selections that took place at Ganga International School in Delhi today had representations from the four North Zone cities of Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Lucknow.
Mukul Mohindra from Mamta Modern School in New Delhi, Sachin Mallik from D.A.V. Sr. Sec. School in Chandigarh, Gajraj Singh from Mayoor Chopasni School in Jodhpur and Saurabh Kumar from Sacred Heart School in Lucknow participated in today’s zonal level trial. The selection marked the conclusion of auditions in the North Zone cities.
Class X student Mukul Mohindra excelled in various skill tests, such as Penalty Kick, Corner Kick, Facing the Forward Player, Throwing the ball for Clearance and Kick the ball for Clearance under the close supervision of reputed goalkeeping Coaches.
Mukul started playing football from Class IV in Mamta Modern School, which had produced a marvellous striker and current India national team captain Sunil Chhetri. Mukul was hand-picked by his school Coach at a young age. Since then, he has been a regular goalkeeper in his school team.
Mukul represented his school twice in the esteemed Subroto Cup inter-school tournament in 2010 (U-14) and 2011 (U-17). His school finished 4th in the School National Football Championship 2011, held in Chandigarh.
The 15-yr-old lad from Vikaspuri recently got selected for the prestigious Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala. He is the only goalkeeper of 7 footballers from Delhi State.
“I really got good competition from other goalies and it was very tough to edge-past them”, Mukul said, adding: “This is a wonderful talent hunt where we got very good facilities and the Judges were very knowledgeable. I am thankful to Airtel and Manchester United for giving us a chance to show our skills at top level.”
Mukul wants to play for Tata Football Academy, which is also his favourite club. He idolises Dutch custodian Rafael van der Vaart.
For Airtel Rising Stars’ Bangalore Tour, 3 players from 16 Indian cities in addition to 1 goalkeeper each from 4 zones - adding up to 52 footballers - are being selected to attend a final six-day camp-cum-selection trial conducted by coaches from Manchester United. From the 52, 12 players will be chosen to travel to Manchester United for a week and train alongside the Manchester United Academy team.
Launched in association with Manchester United - one of the best soccer clubs in the world - ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ is a rigorous pan-India scouting program that is offering 12 talented footballers the chance-of-a-lifetime.
In the North Zone auditions, apart from a goalkeeper, three footballers who will compete in the Bangalore tour have already been selected after a round of auditions in each North Zone city.
By Indian Sports News Network