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FIFA U17 World Cup: Auto-rickshaw driver's son Aniket Yadav eyes good show for India

Despite being born and brought up in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district, Aniket Yadav could not pick cricket as a sport in his childhood.

By Sujata Sarkar
FIFA U17 World Cup: Auto-rickshaw driver's son Aniket Yadav eyes good show for India

New Delhi, Sep 24: Despite being born and brought up in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district, Aniket Yadav could not pick cricket as a sport in his childhood.

Aniket’s father, Anil Yadav, rides an auto-rickshaw in Kolhapur and that is his only earning. He did not have the financial capacity to buy cricket gears for his son.

That is why Aniket’s career began with football. So, in his local club, Aniket started learning football under the observation of Jayprakash Agrawal. During that time Aniket’s position on the field was left back.

The 16-year-old footballer, who has now been one of the mainstays in under-17 Indian football team for the upcoming under-17 World Cup, spoke from Goa about his struggle as a footballer.

Aniket revealed,"Initially I had to struggle a lot to continue practicing as my father did not have any alternative earning. The major problem I faced was the unavailability of healthy food advised by my childhood coach.

"So, it happened several times that my childhood coach had often helped me by providing food as well as other healthy food. It happened several days when I used to live in coach’s home after relentless practice.”

Aniket’s mother often got scared after watching his son’s passion for the game. But his father, despite not being able to provide the required financial support, inspired him a lot.

Aniket added, “I would not have reached here as a footballer if my father had not inspired and encouraged me continuously.”

But how did his position change on the field?

Aniket started as a defender and now he is a full-fledged striker. Aniket revealed his coach in the Under-15 team in FC Pune City had fielded him as a striker in a tournament in Germany and there he scored a couple of goals.

After that, Aniket has been concentrating on scoring goals and his dream is to help India win every match in the forthcoming World Cup by scoring goals.

Story first published: Sunday, September 24, 2017, 15:24 [IST]
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