Football meets shooting on rain-soaked evening: India's oldest school tournament opens with unique sporting parallel
Under ominous black clouds casting their spell over Delhi's skyline, the Subroto Cup, India's oldest national school football tournament, roared to life with its 64th edition at the Ambedkar Stadium on Tuesday.
Despite heavy rain in the morning hours of the day, leaving carpets soaked and the turf damp, hundreds of students and army officers in the stands cheered on to undo the damage dealt by the weather.
Olympian and Arjuna Award-winning shooter Anjum Moudgil, the guest of honour for the opening ceremony, drew an exciting comparison between team sports like
football
and something deeply individual like shooting.
While shooting remains less accessible compared to team sports like football in India, she said that individual sports are more lucrative than playing for a team.
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That difference, she said, lies at the heart of how recognition comes to athletes.
'Yes, they are different in terms of recognition. When you win a medal, obviously you get more attention than a team,' she told TimesofIndia.com on the sidelines of the Subroto Cup.
The words of the former world number one in 50m 3 position rifle come at a time when Indian shooters are riding a wave of success.
Manu Bhaker set the tone at the Paris 2024 Olympics with two bronze medals, while Suruchi Singh, Arya Borse, Arjun Babuta, Sift Kaur Samra and Elavenil Valarivan all made their mark at the ISSF World Cup of late.
On Tuesday, Bhaker added another bronze at the Asian Shooting Championships in Kazakhstan.
On the pitch, however, the first match of the tournament lived up to its billing.
Players of Arunachal Pradesh (green) and Sainik School, Odisha, vie for the ball during the Junior Girls Under-17 match at 64th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament (PTI Photo)
Arunachal Pradesh edged past Sainik School 1-0 in the junior girls' category, thanks to an early first-half strike.
Sainik School had two goals ruled out for offside, but the contest brimmed with spirit, making it a fitting start to a competition that continues to nurture India's next generation of footballers.
With the Subroto Cup bringing in yet another generation of talented footballers, and shooters continuing to collect medals on the international stage, India's sporting future looks brighter than ever.
The junior girls' competition runs until August 28, with the sub-junior boys and junior boys categories set to follow. The tournament comes to a close on September 25, with the final of the junior boys category.
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