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Small in size, big in ambition

Fearless Prasad Shelar takes on rivals with aplomb.

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Just 11 years and 3ft-9-in tall, Prasad Shelar doesn’t fear to take on players bigger in size on a kabaddi court. Recently, he starred in NM Joshi Municipal School’s 41-8 title win over Mahatma Gandhi School in the U-14 MSSA kabaddi tournament at Azad Maidan.

“So what if they are burly and strong?” Prasad asks. “I’ll beat them with my mind games.”

Prasad comes from a lower-middle income family, and his mother has to support her family by cooking and selling food for office goers.

To help his mother, Prasad wakes up at six every morning to make rotis. He then goes to school at 8am and then comes his favourite part of the day – playing kabaddi with classmates at 4pm.

“Playing kabaddi helps me to forget all the struggles that I have to go through at home. For the duration of practice, I feel a sense of freedom. It’s the only thing that I look forward to every day,” he says.

The youngster dreams of playing kabaddi for India one day. “Playing against older guys helps me become a better player. I hope that one day I’m good enough to represent India and that in turn will give my family a better standard of living,” he says.

Apart from playing kabaddi, Prasad has also captained the Mumbai U-10 langdi team that won the district title last year. He also represented his school that won the U-10 touch rugby tournament organised by Bombay Gymkhana last December.

His coach Suresh Dorugade has words of praise for Prasad. “Prasad is an integral part of my team. Even though there were elder guys vying for a spot in the team, I selected him because he’s really good and opponents don’t see him as much of a threat, which in a way works to our advantage.”

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