This football hero helps J&K youth set new goals

MUMBAI: Tearing through the Ramzan rush, previous the monsoon puddles, Mohammed Yusuf Ansari brings his motorcycle to a halt outside a nondescript nursing home. While Madanpura shakes off its afternoon lethargy to arrange for the night iftar, Ansari finds a quiet nook of the nursing home to speak about football, the fervour that defines him and far of Mandanpura, the Muslim ghetto in central Mumbai he calls his home and laboratory too.

As the sector prepares to get gripped via football fever with World Cup 2018 beginning on June 14, 54-year-old Ansari regrets he's going to not sign up for his many soccer-mad pals to watch the suits on TV. “I will be able to be with the India Under-19 workforce on strategy to Portugal to practise for the Under-20 match in Spain. When the World Cup begins on June 14 we can be assembling in Goa earlier than we depart for Portugal,” says Ansari, the remorseful about writ large on his saltand-pepper-bearded face. Having performed for India as a goalkeeper between 1990 and 1997, Ansari is among Madanpura’s most renowned footballers.

The son of a footballer who labored for Indian Railways and coached its workforce too, Ansari performed for Air India (he now coaches here), which he joined in 1992. Today he excursions the sector on deputation as a trainer. One such deputation not too long ago took him to Jammu & Kashmir. As the federal government tries to wean boys there away from stone-pelting and militancy, sports activities, including football, is one of the gear.


When the J&K State Football Academy invited Ansari to coach native boys in Srinagar, it gave him, he says, a chance to have interaction with kids with immense possible. And his contribution went way past football. While in J&K, Ansari was asked to appeal to one of the crucial younger native footballers who had joined militancy. “Through my message on social media, I informed the boy an excellent long term awaited him in football, while his existence would be ruined if he turned into a terrorist. Happily, the boy returned, and I am informed he has joined the mainstream,” says Ansari. “I see nice skill some of the Kashmiris. Kashmir had produced world gamers like Ashfaque Ahmed and Merajuddin Wadoo in the 2000s. The disruptions have slowed the growth of sports activities there. Their enthusiasm and spirit will also be revived,” he provides.


The role of Ansari and his ilk in giving the youths of J&K a hope in India may well be important. An inspiration for many who need to make a tight dwelling even if not extremely trained, Ansari cites his own upward push from a modest background to enthuse aspiring footballers. “I tell them I studied best up to SSC but am now assistant supervisor with Air India as a result of my excellence in the footballing enviornment,” he explains.


Living in infrastructurestarved Madanpura, attending a municipal school and practising on the dusty Mohammed Hussain playground in an inexpensive pair of brogues purchased on the within reach Chor Bazaar, Ansari turned into an area hero because of his diligence and excellence at football. “Sports champions like Yusuf Ansari assist explode the myth that deprivation kills skill. Ansari’s significance lies in the truth that he became adversity into alternative and utilised whatever little resources he needed to observe his dream,” says native corporator Rais Shaikh who not too long ago organised the Madanpura Football League to “rekindle the love for football among locals.”


From some of the a number of prestigious tournaments he has performed in, including qualifiers for the 1990 Olympics and World Cup 1993, Ansari rates his look as part of the Indian side against Syria in 1990 the “maximum memorable.” “The Syrian workforce was more potent than us and everybody expected they'd rating a minimum of 6-7 targets. A lot trusted how I defended. I kept defending till, on the 87th minute, they scored a purpose against us. We lost but I used to be lauded and the click raved about the efficiency,” he remembers.
This football hero helps J&K youth set new goals This football hero helps J&K youth set new goals Reviewed by Kailash on June 13, 2018 Rating: 5
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