Astam Oraon, a player from Jharkhand’s Gumla district, will lead the FIFA U-17 World Cup football team as the captain.

Six players, including Oraon, have been selected from Jharkhand for the event kicking off from October 11 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

The other five girls from the state include Anita Kumari, Anjali Munda and Neetu Linda from Ranchi. Purnima Kumari hails from Simdega district and Sudha Ankita Tirkey from Gumla district.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren congratulated Oraon and other players for their selection to the Indian team.

“The Indian football team has been announced for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. It is a historical occasion when one of our state’s girls has been selected to lead the team and five others have been selected in the team. I would like to congratulate the girls and extend my blessings to all the players selected in the Indian team for the FIFA U-17 Women’s Football World Cup. Organised training for the Under-17 team in Jamshedpur for almost two years has been fruitful. Congratulations and Johar again to the entire team,” the chief minister said in a statement released on Thursday.

The chief minister’s secretariat statement stated that during the lockdown in 2020 the players selected in the Indian probable for FIFA U-17 had to return to Jharkhand from Goa. Due to the poor financial condition of most of the players, necessary preparations and proper diet was missing. After the matter came to the notice of the chief minister, the state sports department arranged for the training and diet of the players.

“All these players were brought to Ranchi and provided medical facilities and kept in the Government Guest School. According to the menu of the national team, arrangements for food and camp at Morabadi Football Stadium and two coaches were arranged for them. After this, the facility of world-class training of the Indian team for the FIFA World Cup was ensured in Jamshedpur on the instructions of the chief minister for nearly 10 months,” the statement added.

India, along with the US, Morocco, and Brazil, has been placed in Group A. They will face the US on October 11, followed by matches against Morocco and Brazil on October 14 and October 17 respectively.

The tournament will be held in Bhubaneswar, Margao in Goa, and Navi Mumbai from October 11 to October 30.