Two young budding footballers from the city have made Belgaum famous by representing the Karnataka football team in the Khelo India National Youth Sports Festival-2023 held at Indore.
Sunil Pavnoji (age 18) from Kadoli village in Belgaum taluka, a second year undergraduate student, and Soham Sandeep Oualkar (18 years old), a city-based first year undergraduate student at Lingaraj College, are currently representing the state in the Khelo India National Games.
This success has boosted his chances of representing the country in the men’s Indian football team i.e. the sport of football. Both Nivrithi and Soham have been playing football since the age of 10 and have so far shown their brilliance representing various teams in Belgaum and Bangalore. He is currently playing for Belgaum United Football Academy (PUFA) in the city. He is getting guidance from football coach Mateen Inamdar.
Both Nivrithi and Soham were among the top 20 players of the Karnataka team when they attended the state team’s selection trial camp held in Bangalore on January 15 last. After a 20-day training camp under the guidance of football coach Xavier held in Bangalore itself, the duo made it to the final Karnataka squad.
Soham Owlkar is the goalkeeper and Nivritti Pavnoji is the middle order player of the team. In the Khelo India football tournament, the Karnataka team has performed brilliantly, defeating the teams of West Bengal, Odisha, Meghalaya and Punjab.
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