If Iceland could play in world cup, why not Maldives?

 

“I have a dream…. A huge dream indeed. I want to make people of Maldives to hear their national anthem in the world cup under my leadership. I know we need to put lots of effort and have to achieve a lot more in regional area. But it’s not impossible and it’s not that far. I can see it and we will make it Insha Allah”.

This is the vision and the dream which habitants of 1300 of B. Atoll Kendhoo School grade 10 student Ali Shain. Without proper facilities he’s been improving in football since he started playing football at age 10. And B. Kendhoo islanders, other than hosting small football tournaments, doesn’t have the means to improve or develop football in the island.

 

Below here are some of the achievements Ali Shain made since he stared playing:

 

❖ 2012 Mannu Cup (futsal) : 2 man of the match, Top 5 players, Top Scorer

❖ 2013 Diamond One day cup junior (futsal): 1 man of the match, Top 5 players.

❖ 2014 Diamond One day cup junior (futsal): 3 man of the match

❖ 2015 Diamond One day cup junior (futsal): 2 man of the match and Top Player

❖ 2016 Bee fashion Futsal Fiesta: Man of the match, Top player and Top scorer.

❖ 2016 Baa Kendhoo School inter-house football tournament: 2 man of the match, Top 5 player and Top Scorer.

❖ 2016 Diamond futsal tournament: 4 Man of the match

❖ 2016 Mannu Cup: Best 3 players and 1 man of the match

❖ 2017 Baa Kendhoo School inter-house football tournament: 3 man of the match, Top Player, Top Scorer.

❖ 2018 Baa Kendhoo School inter-house athletics championship: gold medal for high jump, long jump and 200m marathon.

❖ 2018 Kendhoo Council 4th Football Tournament: 2 man of the match, Dream team player, in top 5 players of the tournament and the golden boot winner.

 

These achievements made with his born talent and listening to some of the seniors in the field with hard work and good sports discipline. Shain is really talented and can make the whole country proud of him for bringing a good name to this small nation.

He believes if a small nation like Iceland can play in the World Cup there’s no reason why we can’t have that opportunity. From 2015 onwards people started to make notice of his talents. Since than he never looked back and achieve more each year. After finishing his last year at the school he’s wishes to change to Capital Male to chase his dream and work hard to achieve his goal of being a better footballer with better facilities than his island.

 

According to his coach: “shain is very disciplined kid, very calm and friendly, also very punctual. And also he’s doing work hard to achieve his target. I hope his future is very bright considering the age and the talent he got. With the adequate trainings he can be a great player”

His family has his back and ready to anything to make his dream come true. For that they have made all the arrangements to Change him to Male’ after finishing school in island to get him a good education and follow his dream without being interrupted by anything.

According to his sister aishath sheeza said: “I’m here for him to take him any higher in the sky. I’ll always be his supporting pillar and that’s what I’ve been doing. I am very proud of him and I hope his dreams will come true”

But the big question is, if we provide proper facilities and funding for these talented youngsters in islands as same as Male’, why couldn’t we be able to make More than few Ali Ashfaqs in Maldives? Let this question slide for another time. But we are seeing more and more island taking the initiative to develop football with youth development programs as a first step. We want more than anything else to see even the small islands to have the opportunity to improve their youngsters to develop and achieve their talents to show to the whole nation. Boalha.mv wish all the best and well wishes to Ali Shain for his future and upcoming journey to achieve the lifelong dream of being one of the best footballer in the country. Also all the talent youngsters to have the best facilities and opportunity to show their talent to all to take Maldives football to the next level.

30 July 2018