A Catholic priest in Madhya Pradesh, who managed India’s women’s football team to an international tournament, says his selection was an acceptance of Church’s efforts for nation building. Father Selvichan Thumpayil of Sagar, took the 14-member squad to Sri Lanka for the 7th Asian international football tournament of women under 25 years of age. The tournament ran from July 10-12.
His selection as a team manager came when parents of the children expressed confidence in him as nine of the team were selected from Chavara Vidhya Bhavan Higher Secondary School, in which he was principal till recently.
Thirteen members of the team were from the state, while the remaining was from Andhra Pradesh.
“As a priest, I only did my job as a school principal,” he said, adding, “our academic curriculum also encourages students to develop their talents in different fields.”
He said that this was an acceptance of the Church’s sustained contribution for nation building through its educational institutions and other social works.
Father Thumpayil ”used to take a lot of interest in our training providing all basic amenities in the school and spending extra time after the school hours,” team captain Vaishali Rai, who is now doing her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), said.
“Our parents hesitated in sending us to another country for a tournament initially but with the intervention of the priest, everything was settled,” she said.
India was the first runner up in the tournament with Maldives clinching the title. Sri Lanka was the second runner up among the three countries which participated in it as other participant countries Pakistan and Bangladesh failed to turn up for the event.
SIC: CTHIND