FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: India's Astam Oraon who got a road built in her village

The 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be hosted in three Indian cities of Bhubaneshwar, Margao and Navi Mumbai but there’s a small nondescript village in Jharkhand, where a road is being built as a result of the global event. That village is home to Astam Oraon, who will captain India in the upcoming U-17 Women’s World Cup. That brand new road in her village leads straight to the house of the footballer. Astam, who hails from Banari Goratoli village under Bishunpur block in Gumla district (Jharkhand), is part of the 21-players squad , who have been picked to represent India for the first time in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. It will also be the first time India will be hosting the age-group Women’s World Cup. They hosted the Men’s U-17 World Cup in 2017. “Both me and my family are overjoyed that a road is being made in my name,” Astam tells Firstpost. “My mother told me ‘keep making us proud, keep progressing and help us in developing our village’. Our village, Banari Goratoli, is very small and unknown to almost everyone.”

The fact that the small hamlet, Astam hails from, didn’t have a proper road is proof enough of how difficult a journey the left-back has travelled to now stand on the brink of history. Her parents, Heeralal Oraon and Tara Devi, rely on their small agricultural land for survival, and when even that is not enough they work as daily-wage labourers. But one’s resources, or lack of it, is not always the deciding factor of how far you will go in life. In sports, especially, talent and merit could quite often be the difference between success and failure, all one needs is encouragement and proper grooming. Heeralal may be a farmer and daily wage earner but it was his love for the game that inspired Astam to take up the sport. Once she started doing well the family sent her to Hazaribagh to help her pursue her dreams. “I had seen my father playing football in my childhood. He later gave up due to a knee injury but my love for the game stayed with me. My performances in village school tournaments always earned praise from people and that’s how I kept going,” shares Astam. “In 2016 after doing well at the district level, I was called to Hazaribagh for a trial where I made the cut. That was the first time I got the opportunity to stay away from home and train. In the camp there, there were players like Sunita Manda, Pratiksha Lakra and Sandhya Kashyap who had played for India’s age-group teams and that gave me the hope that I can also play for India in the future.” FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup: India squad, opponents, streaming — all you need to know Eventually, it was her impressive show in the U-17 nationals at Kolhapur in 2019 that got her into the India camp. Astam has since been part of India’s setup at different age group levels. She has played for the U-15 team and earlier this year was part of the side that won the SAFF U-18 championship. Astam has also been part of the senior India camp and made her debut for the team in a friendly against Tunisia in 2021. The India U-17 team has been camping together since April this year in Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar and, has been to Europe for multiple exposure tours; playing against the national teams of Sweden and Italy. While there’s no doubt the World Cup will be the toughest challenge for the team, Astam feels the team bonding developed over the last few months and the matches and extensive training should hold the team in good stead. “We have a very strong team bonding within the team because we have been together for the last seven months. We are well aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s a great thing,” Astam says. “We will give our best. We have been working hard for a very long on both aspects, physical and mental and there’s good communication in the team. We will try to qualify for the quarter-finals. We are focussed on the tournament.” India have been drawn in Group A alongside USA, Morocco and Brazil in the World Cup. They will take on USA on 11 October, followed by Morocco and Brazil on 14 and 17 October, respectively. _Click here to read more FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup stories_ Read all the  Latest News ****,  Trending News ****,  Cricket News ****,  Bollywood News ****,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook****,  Twitter and  Instagram****.