Hyderabad: The son of a migrant couple working as construction labourers at Rasoolpura in the city, 10-year-old Manideep Perakatta dreamt big of taking to water, sailing and joining the military. And his aspirations have started to come true.
Manideep, a student of Alpha Omega School, is among the four boy sailors from the Yacht Club Foundation of Hyderabad who have been selected to join the Army Boy Sports Company with the Madras Engineers Regiment.
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule school boys – Nitin Nayak from Achampet, Nagarkurnool, and Abiram Kavarala from Wanaparthy, apart from Harshavardhan Yerra, a Swaeroe of Vikarabad, were also selected by the Indian Army through a stringent process across five days that tested their sailing skills, fitness, bone structure and track record at the Nationals.
The Army Boy Sports Company is a collaborative venture of SAI with the Indian Army and the main objective of the scheme is to make use of the good infrastructure and disciplined environment of the Army for training boys in the age group of 8-16 years to achieve excellence in sports.
Nitin Nayak, 13, was recently declared the under 18 Telangana Junior State Champion beating many with greater experience while he is still in the sub-juniors. Son of Jabbarlal and Kamala, farmers from Nagarkurnool, he was jubilant to be the first to be selected.
Harshavardhan Yerra, son of a farmer from Chilkur, said, “I did not even dream that I too would be part of those teams. I will miss the Yacht Club and I am very grateful for the intensive training and support provided to me by the Yacht Club Foundation,” he said.
Abhiram’s mother Bharathi, a homemaker, had tears in her eyes and couldn’t believe their son got an opportunity to be trained by the Army. His father Shekhar, being a Karate trainer, always dreamt of his son getting either into the Police or Indian Army.
“Getting four of our boys selected when only eight were chosen out of hundreds of applicants is very satisfying and a clear indication that our training and systems are well established,” said Suheim Sheikh, president of the Yacht Club of Hyderabad.
“As president of the Telangana Sailing Association, it makes me very proud that four Telangana boys have made it,” said Lt.Gen. KS Rao, India’s first circumnavigator.
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