The U-17 Indian women’s football team will create history as they face USA in the opening game of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. This will be the first time that the Indian women’s team is participating in a FIFA event of any kind. The woman who is leading this historic team is Astam Oraon.
Astam Oraon comes from the remote village of Gorratoli in the Gumla district of Jharkhand, which is infamous for being infested with Maoists. Oraon was born in a pretty poor family of farmers. The third child to her parents Heeralal Oraon and Tara Devi, she has four sisters and a brother. Their family had to fight through extreme poverty and hunger.
She dreamt of being a footballer ever since her childhood, and thus continued her journey of achieving her dream. She became the first person from her village to be selected at a a state-run residential football academy in Hazaribagh.
From there Astam Oraon became part of the U-17 national team as she played South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) games at Jamshedpur and then abroad at Malaysia. In fact, reports have emerged that she even went to Spain to prepare for the U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
She put her village in the sporting map of India as she was selected for the squad for the FIFA U-17 World Cup that India are hosting. However, the name of her village for further enhanced when she was declared as the captain of the team.
In fact, Astam Oraon’s success has even caused authorities to take notice of her small village. The Gumla district administration has allotted Rs 2 crore to build a football stadium in Gorratolli, and also sanctioned a black topped improved road inside the village.
However Astam Oraon is laser focussed in doing well at the World Cup. “I only want to look ahead and my target is to play well and as a team to clinch the World Cup,” the young skipper said in a pre-match press conference ahead of the match against USA.
