4 boys from Yacht Club to join Indian Army

Tank Bund: Just a few months ago in November, Nayeem Pasha of Kriya Sangh Society, an NGO operating out of Rasoolpura received a call from the Yacht Club of Hyderabad Foundation, asking him to select a few children from his locality.

Little did Nayeem predict that one of his wards Manideep Perakatta, a student of Alpha Omega School, would be selected to join the Army Boy Sports Company with the Madras Engineers Regiment at Bangalore at the tender age of just 10.

Rasoolpura has produced about 20 state and national medals and 3 National champions with most of the sailors from Udbhav School, a school supported by the IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association.

Army Boy Sports Company is a collaborative venture of SAI with the Indian Army. The main objective of the Scheme is to make use of the good infrastructure and disciplined environment of the Army for training boys in the age group of 8-16 years of age, to achieve excellence in sports.

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule School boys Nitin Nayak from Achampet, Nagarkurnool, and Abiram Kavarala from Wanaparthy and Harshavardhan Yerra, a Swearoe of Vikarabad, were also selected by the Indian Army through a stringent process across 5 days that tested their sailing skills, fitness, bone structure and track record at the Nationals.

"The Yacht Club Foundation told us to keep our expectations low at the army selections and we did not expect two of our seven boys to get through with flying colours," said Malliah Battu a senior officer with the BC Welfare

"Getting 4 of our boys selected when only 8 were chosen out of hundreds of applicants is very satisfying and a clear indication that our training and systems are well established.

Dignity Through Sports is our motto and this is surely another step in exactly that direction," said Suheim Sheikh, the President of the Yacht Club of Hyderabad. "As President of the Telangana Sailing Association it makes me very proud that 4 of our Telangana boys have made it," said a jubilant Lt Gen. KS Rao, VSM India's first circumnavigator. The Army picked up 4 out of 41 competed in the process.

This is not the first time. The Yacht Club has already produced 12 such sailors, who have already secured a place in Indian Army and Navy.

The selection process which would have taken place last April got postponed due to the pandemic. The Navy is visiting the Yacht Club tomorrow for the preliminary selections. In another six months one more round of selection may also happen by the Army, informed Yacht Club.