On Women's Day, a 17-year-old female football star from Bengal relishes pioneering football in her village

Rimpa promises to ensure a place in Indian squad next time

 

She is Rimpa Halder. She lives in a village named Haspukuria, Nadia district. Her father, Sribas Halder is a fisherman, who works on other's fishponds as a daily laborer. Rimpa’s father has to do a lot of hard work to survive financially to run his family consisting of his housewife, son who is studying now, and Rimpa presently. He has somehow managed to get his other daughter married recently. 

Rimpa is Bengal's one of the most promising footballers right now. Presently, a striker of the Kanyasree Cup-winning East Bengal women’s team this year was also the captain of Bengal women’s team in the recently-concluded Khelo India Youth Games where they finished as the runner-up for the first time in their participation in the last five years, losing to Manipur in the final. 

Rimpa,  as a reward for her consistent performance in the Khelo India Youth Games was called up to the national under-20 preparatory camp even though she was not selected in the final squad for the ongoing under-20 Asia Cup in Vietnam. Speaking to Parallel Sports, Rimpa the top-scorer in Kolkata women’s football league twice regretted saying, "I was being played in the left-back position in the national camp even though the coach was aware that I am a striker. That was the reason I failed to deliver my best in the camp. I took a lesson that you have to be an all-rounder, producing your best performance in all the positions except goalkeeping.”

 

Rimpa was alone when in 2018 she started playing football with the elder boys at the local Sporting Union club ground. She was even a medal-winner in the 100-meter sprint at the national level. Following inspiration from her local coach Aveek Biswas she shifted to football. Her father was scared of injury as Rimpa did not have shoes to play in. She got injured in her knee also once playing with elder boys in the club. It was not easy for her to settle into the game fighting continuously with the financial crisis as well as the fear of injury for playing against the boys. 

But today, Rimpa is a happy girl. It is not only for the 17-year-old striker who has been called up in the ongoing senior women’s preparatory camp for the forthcoming women’s national championship. Rimpa rather emphasized stating, “On the Women’s Day, I can share my joy of being a girl footballer from a village where several girls are coming to play the game after having watched me. Haspukuria Sporting Union club has formed a girls’ football team recently. Nearly 30 footballers nowadays train there. Under the guidance of Aveek Biswas, the girls' team will also try to play in Kolkata women's football league in near future. I take pride in cherishing the happenings that I have been able to inspire my village girls and I also pray for them that more footballers like me come up and represent Bengal as well as India in near future.” 

 

 

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