Federick Kurbah of Meghalaya and Ronald Singh of Manipur along with two others got selected for a visit to Manchester United later this year.
They were selected at the final round of United We Play trials held in Chennai. Organised by leading tyre maker Apollo Tyres in association with Manchester United, over 5000 young footballers took part in the programme this year.
The final round of United We Play trials were held in the presence of Manchester United legends – Peter Schmeichel, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre, Louis Saha, Quinton Fortune, Wes Brown and Ronny Johnsen, who was suitably impressed by the footballing talents and the mettle of these youngsters displayed on the pitch during the trials.
The other two who got selected are Chennai’s RS Preyarhanjan and Kunal Yeole from Pune. They will get once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Old Trafford to participate in exciting activities like match-day experience, training sessions with Manchester United Soccer School coaches, and legend interactions, scheduled for later this year.
The 16-year-old Federick comes from a humble family background with his single mother raising four children. He started playing football at a very tender age with his friends from the neighbourhood. His grandmother and uncle, both football fanatics, were impressed by the early signs and the idea of making it a career option took shape.
Federick, a massive Neymar fan, started training under his school coach when he was in class 6. After three years of dedicating his life to football and partly academies, the pandemic hit and somehow derailed the orientation. Federick however never gave up and continued with his training at home, imitating various techniques from online videos of his favourite Brazilian.
On the other hand, Ronald was born in Imphal, Manipur and he is a product of Minerva Academy in Chandigarh.
Delighted with his achievement, Ronald said: “I am so happy to be performing here among such legends of the game. I would like to thank my family and coaches for always believing in me and the Apollo and Manchester United team for giving young players like us an opportunity to showcase our talent. I am very excited to visit Manchester and watch my idol Ronaldo play.”
