Reincarnating Raipur
Rajnandgaon. Neha Mandavi, a girl player from village Job of Churia block, a Naxal-affected area of the district, has been selected for the Khelo India Basketball Academy. Due to the efforts of international basketball coaches Rajeshwar Rao and Radha Rao, another basketball player was selected for Khelo India Academy. Neha Mandavi will be given 1 lakh 20 thousand pocket money and Khelo India will spend 6 lakh 28 thousand annually on the player. There are more than two dozen players from Rajnandgaon playing basketball at Khelo India Academy. Rajnandgaon, the nursery of basketball, has got another achievement.
International coaches Rajeshwar Rao and Radha Rao have been selecting talented girls from Vananchal and Naxal-affected areas and placing them in Yugantar Public School, and Delhi Public School, and providing them with high-level training and taking them to national and international levels. Rao said that more than two dozen female players including Neha Mandavi were selected with the help of the 38th battalion of ITBP and called to Rajnandgaon and they were given sports training here. A total of 12 players were trained at their home at their own expense. However, due to COVID-19, the players were sent back and given online training. The children did not have mobile phones. Fellow player Kavita’s father helped him and helped him practice by providing him with a mobile phone. 24 players from the district were included in Khelo India. Neha Mandavi was selected for the residential scheme of the Sports Authority of India Training Center, Rajnandgaon. Then, due to his excellent performance in SAI’s All India Inter Hostel Basketball competition, he was selected for the assessment camp of Khelo India. Here, after giving the best results in all the tests, he was selected for the Khelo India Academy.
