Hyderabad sailors secure Defence jobs

It was a joyous moment for six city-based sailors between the ages of 11 and 15 years when they received information that they were recruited by the Army and Navy. This includes Vamshi, Sachin, Durga Prasad, Mallesh, Vijay and Vishwanath.

The youngsters come from small towns like Pargi and Vikarabad and study at the schools set up by the government under the brand ‘Swaeroes’ as part of the Social Welfare Schools initiative.

Most of the young sailors are children of farmers and farm labour; a few work as auto drivers and waiters, and hail from marginalised communities.

These boys will now join the sailing teams of both the Navy and Army and thereafter qualify for direct entry to the forces after they finish with their education at a Kendriya Vidyalaya near the training centres at Bengaluru and Goa.

“Sometimes professions choose people rather than the other way around and I would have scarcely believed it a few years ago that our academy would produce sportspersons of international calibre and some of them would be selected by the armed forces to join their training programmes,” said Suheim Sheikh, founder of Yacht Club and an achieved sailor from Hyderabad.

“This was like a bolt from the blue for our children and we least expected such a spectacular impact on their lives in such a short time. I must congratulate their coach and mentor for taking these kids from not knowing a thing about sailing to building a career for them,” said Praveen Kumar, officer who heads the Social Welfare Schools across the State.

The star amongst the lot is Durga Prasad who hails from Rasoolpura and studies at Udbhav School and IIM Amhedabad Alumni funded school. He learned sailing in 2015 and in a span of two years is now representing India at the World Championships in July at Thailand after a stint at Ras Al Khaimah.

Durga and family are themselves startled at his selection by the Navy and he will leave the Club for Goa at the end of July to join the Navy training and education programmes headed by Rear Admiral Monty Khanna. Thereafter he will represent the Navy at all championships.

Meanwhile, Vamshi and Vijay have been selected to the Army Sports School at Bengaluru run by the Madras Engineers Regiment. Sachin and Vishvanath will join the Navy at Goa.