KOCHI: With high hopes of winning medals in the State School Sports Meet, 50 students and five teachers have travelled all the way from the UAE to Kochi. For the Malayali students settled in the UAE, it is a dream they thought they would perhaps never achieve.
The students are from the Indian schools in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah.
Muhammed Sinan, a Thrissur native settled in Sharjah with his parents, was a district-level player when he was in Kerala. He wished to attend the school sports meet. However, he couldn’t and he is now representing the UAE in the Kerala sports meet. “I was in Kerala till Class X. I used to attend sports events, especially football. However, I didn’t get a chance to represent my school and district at the state games. This opportunity came unexpectedly,” Sinan, a Class XII student of the New Indian Model School in Dubai, told TNIE.
Sumesh Kumar, a coach with the Gulf Model School, Dubai, who has accompanied the students to Kochi, said the team is confident of a good showing.
“When we received the invitation, we called students from the eight Kerala board schools in the UAE. More than 200 students participated in the trials and we selected 50 from among them, and trained them to participate in volleyball, basketball, football, and athletics,” said Sumesh, expressing gratitude to the state government for inviting Indian schools in the UAE to the event.
“It was a good experience to come together and practice for 10 days. For the past few weeks, training sessions were held every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also, we were very excited that we were coming to Kerala for the sports event. It is energising,” said Muhammed Wasim, a Class X student from Dubai, who is part of the UAE volleyball team. Interestingly, Wasim is a native of Mangaluru.
The state government is providing transportation, food, and accommodation to the students from the UAE. “The expenses for travelling in the UAE, practice sessions, and training camps were taken care of by the schools. We have students from as many as six Indian schools as participants here,” added Sumesh.
