Shahdol: A village in Madhya Pradesh renowned as ‘Mini Brazil’ due to its residents’ love for football once again hogged the limelight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned it in his conversation with American podcaster Lex Fridman, which was aired on Sunday.
Modi had met some players from this village, Vicharpur in Shahdol district, during a visit to MP in early 2023 and had also spoken about it in his radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ in July that year. The PM had spoken about coach and national level player Raees Ahmed, whose training has seen the love for the game getting complemented by technique.
The PM had also spoken about how Ahmed’s dedicated coaching was producing top flight footballers from a village once infamous for drugs and alcohol.
Beaming over the PM mentioning Vicharpur in his podcast a day earlier, Ahmed said the village always had passion for the game but not the resources earlier.
“I started football coaching in Vicharpur village in 2002. I formed a boys team first and then a girls team. After a few years, the situation was such that a child from every house was playing football. As girls too began taking part in school and national level tournaments, the village started getting called Mini Brazil,” Ahmed told PTI.
Citing an example, he said resident Lakshmi Sahis has participated in nine national competitions, while her brother Sitaram Sahis and sister Dhanvantari Sahis have taken part in national level competitions.
Others who have demonstrated their skills at national tournaments include Anil Singh Gaur, Om Prakash Kol, Rakesh Kol, Naresh Kunde, Shailendra Kunde, Indrajit, Kewat Satyam Kunde, Hanuman Singh, Mukesh Kol, Bhim Singh, Shankar Dahiya, Rajni Singh, Yashoda Singh, Lakshmi, Yagwati Singh and Renu Singh, the coach said proudly.
“The then Divisional Commissioner of Shahdol Division Rajiv Sharma started this football revolution on September 26, 2021. The objective was to make the country a potent force in the game. A total of 85 football competitions were organized from 2021 to 2023. These included games at panchayat, district, division, state and national levels,” Ahmed said.
During this time, some 1000 football clubs were formed in Shahdol division, resulting in 24 national level players becoming coaches after completing e-licence courses, he said, adding many have got jobs in the railways, police and military.
“The Sports and Youth Welfare Department has built Freedom Center Football (Academy) in Vicharpur, of which Lakshmi Sahis is the coach. Similarly, a sports complex has also been built by the Tribal Affairs Department,” Ahmed pointed out.
During his podcast with Fridman, the PM said people of the village have been playing football, widely called the ‘beautiful game’, for almost four generations, with 80 national level players hailing from there.
The PM praised the unflinching passion of the residents, which has led to the village being hailed as Mini Brazil.
