It's a dream come true for 20-year-old Shraddha Aher. She is among the few selected from the country by OSCAR Foundation to visit Russia for watching 2018 FIFA World Cup. Aher, a Thane resident has been playing soccer for last two years and wants to be a football coach in future. She is now coaching around eight girls from near her locality. Just like Aher, Poonam Gautam from Ambedkar Nagar slum in Mumbai, Lalu Rathod and Akshay Chauhan from the city too will be there in Russia as part of a six-member youth delegation. These youngsters will be participating in FIFA Foundation's 'Football For Hope' festival — FIFA's global initiative for youth and community development, from June 26 to July 3. Speaking about her love for football, Aher, said, "During school days, I saw a few of my friends participating in different sports, but I could not participate due to lack of financial support. After my junior college, I started taking young leader training from OSCAR foundation, which not only developed my learning and love for football as a sport, but also made me realize that I should train other children in this sports too." While Aher now trains 74 children in football at Rabodi Thane, there are only eight girls in her team. She further added, "Even today it is difficult to make parents understand that there is no harm if a girl plays football. While earlier even I didn't have support from family, now they do support me." Another youth delegate Poonam Gautam, 18, said, "I am very excited that I am one of the selected members for this tour. From my community, I am the first girl who will be going outside of India. I am passionate about football. I am excited to watch the match live and meet people from foreign countries related to my passion." Other members of the six-member team are Poonam Gautam (Mumbai), Lalu Rathod (Mumbai), Akshay Chauhan (Mumbai), Shital Toppo (Jharkhand) and Sony Kumari (Jharkhand).

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