Ace footballer of yesteryears and now well-known football coach Shabbir Ali was among those who were honoured with the prestigious Pride of Telangana award in its 3rd edition at a ceremony hosted by Round Table India at the Novotel HICC at HITEC city last week.
Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Telangana, was the Chief Guest who gave away the prizes.
The objective of these awards is to focus the spotlight on unsung heroes who are instrumental in bringing about a revolution within the society. While Shabbir Ali has received many honours in the course of his career as a successful Indian team captain and equally accomplished coach, this award was special for him.
While speaking on the occasion he made an important appeal. He requested the government as well as the corporate bodies to come forward to build teams. In other states there are organisations which have their own football teams that take part in tournaments. Teams like Salgaocar owned by Salgaocar Group of companies, Dempo owned by the Dempo Mining Corporation are the prime examples. Other clubs in the past like JCT Mills and Mahindra United were famous. But Telangana has no such team. Shabbir Ali requested corporate bodies to build teams and provide jobs to the players of Telangana.
Speaking to siasat.com later he said: “It means a lot to me to get this award from my own State in recognition of the services I have rendered after retirement to Telangana football. I have coached the Telangana state team for four years, I am President of the Abbas Union Club which is affiliated to the Telangana Football Association and every year two or three players from our club have represented Telangana in the seniors, juniors, school and university tournaments.”
“Many people are aware that I am trying to bring about a positive change in local football and with that objective I have started training young boys. More than 50 players in different age groups take part in my training schemes on a daily basis. During the summer coaching camp with GHMC about 125 to 150 boys undergo coaching by me and coach Mir Alamdar Ali. About 25 players have got jobs in different departments in Telangana after playing in the Abbas Union FC. But more needs to be done by private companies. I started the SAFA academy along with MB Sports from March this year to spot and develop talent among young boys,” Shabbir Ali added.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Jayesh Ranjan explained that there were two categories of award winners namely, “Achievers” and “Emerging” people and organisations. He congratulated all the award winners and said that although Telangana is a young state, it is full of talent. Its reputation in the field of Information Technology was unparalleled. “We excel in other spheres too and the way we handled the pandemic was exemplary. I am happy that all of you contribute to the image of Telangana as a State which believes in excellence,” he said.. Lakshmi Manchu, a senior film personality, congratulated the award winners and appreciated their hard work at the event.
Those who got the award in the ‘Achiever’ category were Prajwala Foundation in NGO category, Bajaj Electronics in Retail category, Prof J. Mahender Reddy in Education, Dr. Evita Fernandez in Medical category, Skyroot Aerospace in Start-Up category, Mahima Datla in Special Award for Women category, Mohammad Ali Baig in Art and Culture category, Pista House in Food and Beverage category, Dr. Newton Kondaveti in Inner Wellness category, Nucon Aerospace in SME category, Shabbir Ali in Sports category, Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam in Film category, Dr. G. Srinivas Rao in Administrative services category and Surge Impact Foundation in Special jury award Category.
The ‘Emerging’ category awards were presented to No Food Waste in NGO category, Cellbay Mobiles & Electronics Pvt. Ltd & KGN Xerox in Retail category, Active Farm School in Education, Major (Dr.) Shashank Kumar Srivastav in Medical category, Jarsh Safety in Start-Up category, Meghana Munsunri in Special Award for Women category, Madhu Vottery in Art and Culture category, Spark Premium Goli Soda in Food and Beverage category, Soul Beauty and Wellness Center in Inner Wellness category, Terminus Group in SME category; Alicia Joe in Sports category and P.V.N.S. Rohit in Film category.
Abhijit Sen Gupta is a seasoned journalist who writes on Sports and various other subjects