4th Edition of Hindu Hruday Samrat Chashak Rink Football Tournament has been a landmark year for Balaji Somnath Sangle and his team.

by Pushpak Shirwadkar December 5, 2016

Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, has been encouraging its youthful and inspiring leaders to create and bring about chances in their areas of residence. Launched nearly four years ago, ‘Yuva Jallosh’ is a change-making initiative launched by Yuva Sena to carry out socially-engaging initiatives in education, health and sports.

Balaji Sangle, a young and thoughtful leader, has been working towards bridging gaps in the sporting ecosystem, existing in the Chandivali and Sakinaka area of Mumbai. Under the umbrella of ‘Yuva Jallosh’, the current Yuva assembly secretary, Sangle laid the founding steps for the Hindu Hruday Samrat Chashak Rink Football Tournament.

The solitary aim was towards providing a platform for residents of Chandivali and neighbouring areas, which helped them to not only increase interest of football in the area, but also nurture and develop the pre-existing talent.

While speaking with Footballcounter, Sangle expressed, “I remember, it was nearly 7/8 years back, when St. Anthony’s High School organised its last of football tournaments.  There was a time period of almost four years, where there were no tournaments in our vicinity. So our main focus was to incorporate the notion of competitive football playing habits and side-by-side encouraging the community to participate in other sports such as Cricket and Kabbadi.”

There are a hatful of local-level clubs such as Flames Football Club, Amigos Football Club and All Stars from Chandivali, which has represented their areas, and have been acknowledged for their style of play and talented bunch of players.

“We focus on several areas to improve the workings in Chandivali and Sakinaka. Such as building of newspaper stand, distributing pens in local schools, working with the police to abolish drug intake and consumption from our area, and encourage the benefits of a drug free society. These together combined with the passion and commitment involved in playing football in buildings or on grounds, has been a stepping stone to say the least,” tells Balaji Sangle, who also works closely works with several NGOs and foundation as a counselor, helping drug addiction in their rehabilitation process.

This year, the fourth edition of the football tournament featured 10 girl teams, which Sangle expresses as “landmark” feat for everyone involved. Prior to this year, there were no plans in the sports segment for girls of Chandivali and Sakinaka.

“We have welcomed participation from girls outside of our wards with a simple intention of encouraging our local girls to become accustomed to the idea and culture of sports and feel that they should be part of it. As we empower them with equal opportunities as boys, who are playing it for the past three years,” gladly expressed a member of the organising committee.

Footballcounter has always encouraged such special efforts from individuals working in the space. Sangle and his team has been doing an inspiring job not only in football, but for the society at large, and across the education, in particular.

You can read the detailed summary of Day 1 and Day 2 of the tournament exclusively on Footballcounter.