Vedanta continues to Nurture Dreams of Women Footballers in spite of Business hit due to Mining ban and Covid
- Goa CM lauds Vedanta & GFA on successful completion of 4th edition of the Women’s league which is helping in providing platform for aspiring women footballers across the Goa state.
- Sirvodem SC emerge champions of Vedanta Women’s Football League 4th Edition.
- This season of the Women’s league witnessed participation of 100+ women footballers and till date over 350+ Women Footballers participated in the league including all 4 editions since its inception.
New Delhi, XX April 2021: Despite no revenue earned in past three years due to the ban imposed on mining in Goa, Vedanta Sesa Goa is continuously supporting football and helping football talent groom. Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawant appreciated Vedanta Sesa Goa Iron Ore Business for successful conclusion of the fourth edition of the Women’s Football League which is helping aspiring women footballers across Goa.
Sirvodem SC emerged as the Champion of 4th Edition of Vedanta Women’s League, while FC Goa secured Runners Up position and Futebol club YFA secured 3rd place. The winners, Runners up and all the successful players of the league were felicitated during the action packed closing ceremony at Duler Football Ground in Mapusa, in the distinguished presence of Dr. Pramod Sawant, Hon’ble Goa CM, Mr. Churchill Alemao, President, GFA & MLA Benaulim constituency, Mr. Joshua D’Souza, MLA, Mapusa constituency, Mr. Annanya Agarwal, President, Vedanta Sports, Mr. Sauvick Mazumdar, CEO- Iron and Ferro Alloys Business, Vedanta Limited along with GFA & Vedanta Officials, Women players and team management. The closing ceremony was organized in strict adherence to social distancing norms while maintaining a minimal physical presence at the venue.
The super exciting month-long league tournament witnessed power-packed football action with 5 competing teams: Sirvodem SC, Goa United SC, Compassion FC, FC Goa, and Futebol Club YFA showcasing an incredible display of skillful football to secure the ‘Champions’ title. The individual women star performers of the league were awarded during the closing ceremony Ms. Stacy Cardozo of FC Goa team awarded with Golden boot, Ms. Rima Gadekar of Sirvodem SC team awarded with golden glove, Ms. Anrette Da’Costa of Futebol Club YFA team awarded with Golden ball, Ms. Vinoshka of Sirvodem SC team awarded as promising player.
Speaking at the closing ceremony Chief Guest Dr. Pramod Sawant Hon’ble Goa CM Said “This is an excellent platform developed by Vedanta in collaboration with GFA to help aspiring women Footballers across the Goa. I urge all the players to take maximum benefit from this opportunity and excel further to achieve the greater heights in football. I congratulate the winners Sirvodem SC, Runners up FC Goa and all other participants of the league and hope to see many more talented Women footballers from Goa shining at National & International platforms in near future”.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of Vedanta Women’s Football League- 4th Edition, Mr. Annanya Agarwal, President, Vedanta Sports said, “”I would like to congratulate the winning team Sirvodem SC and the runner-up FC Goa for a fabulous display of football skills. My sincere appreciation also goes to all other participating teams for making this tournament a huge success. At Vedanta Sports, our constant endeavor is to contribute towards development of Indian sports through our robust grassroot training programs. I am extremely pleased to see this tournament grow in popularity while the star players from this league are shining at various prestigious footballing platforms. We will continue striving to expand the reach of our sports development programs across the country.”.
Mr. Churchill Alemao, President, Goa Football Association said, “Vedanta Women’s Football League is an important initiative by Vedanta in collaboration with GFA for the upliftment of women football in the state. I am extremely happy that the star player of the tournament Karishma Shirvoikar shall be representing the Indian national team. I am sure going forward this tournament will be instrumental in helping more & more women footballers from Goa to fulfill their dreams to play for the national team and at the prestigious international platforms too.”
Vedanta Women’s Football League is the first of its kind platform for aspiring women footballers in the state to pursue a professional career in football. It has seen the participation of over 350+ women footballers in the tournaments in the last 4 editions. Vedanta is committed to the development of sports across the country through various sport development programs. Sesa Football Academy (SFA) has been dedicatedly working towards the development of football in the state of Goa for more than two decades now. SFA has a rich legacy of over 220+ alumni who are shining at various prestigious platforms across the country including few of them represented Indian national team and played in elite ISL.
Sesa Goa through its commitment of partnership-driven community development approach has been working to provide sustainable livelihoods, through education, sports, healthcare, and women empowerment initiatives.
About Vedanta Cares
Vedanta is committed to reinvest in the social good of its neighbourhood communities and the nation. The Group’s flagship CSR project, Nand Ghar, is a network of model anganwadis where the thrust is on inclusive development of women and children at the grassroots level. The Group CSR initiative comprises of seven key verticals – Education, Healthcare, Water and Sanitation, Sustainable Livelihood, Skilling, Sports & Culture and Employee Volunteering. Vedanta Foundation, a philanthropic initiative of Vedanta Group is focused on skill development and vocational training programmes for the underprivileged to make them employable. A key healthcare speciality CSR project is the Balco Medical Center, a 200-bed state-of-the-art Cancer care hospital located in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The company supports grassroots level sports through their Football academies in Goa and Udaipur.
About Vedanta Limited
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing to India’s growth story, currently contributing 1 percent of India’s GDP. The company is among the top private sector contributors to the exchequer with the highest ever contribution of INR 42,560 Crore in FY 2019. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment and on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company has been conferred the CII-ITC Sustainability Award, the FICCI CSR Award, Dun & Bradstreet Awards in Metals & Mining, and certified as a Great Place to Work. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
About SESA Football Academy
An initiative of SESA Community Development Foundation (SCDF), SESA Football Academy (SFA) was founded in 1999 for the holistic development of the local youths through football. The academy has created the conditions for discovering, creating and building talent for football. SFA does not restrict itself to football trainings but involves in a long term residential program which takes care of the formal education, skill development of the trainees during the four-year training period.
The academy has a strong focus on women empowerment through football. Since inception, SFA has trained around 200 footballers and has made tremendous impact on the football fraternity in Goa as well as across India. The graduates from SFA are serving in the national teams, Indian Super League (ISL), I-League clubs of India and clubs in Goa. 7 players have earned the national team cap and several players played the elite ISL.