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| Devassikutty, Kozhikode |
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What would be the most depressing experience for a football player, even an ex-player at that? To have his right leg amputated below the knee, surely.
This is what exactly happened to Devassikutty, a State player of the 60s and a coach and organizer later on. And yet like Phoenix from ashes, he has come back with an artificial leg to act as a football coach for school students.
It was a minor wound that he sustained during the Kerala Games at Kozhikode in 1999 that turned his life upside down. In the midst of organising the meet he forgot about the minor scratch, which he sustained from a stone in front of the stadium. But when diabetics conspired with the wound, the doctors had no alternative except to cut off the right leg below the knee.
What else is needed to shatter a man who had adopted football as a part of his life? After long stay in the hospital, when he started walking with the help of crutches, he had no doubt that football was still his bread and passion.
And so he started nudging football with the artificial limb as soon as he felt confident to stand on his own. And once he knew he could boot the ball, he dawned the jersey of a coach for the students of Kendriya Vidyalaya. Thrice a week he teaches the students of 5th to 9th standard the basics of football. In doing so, Devassikutty gathers the vigour to go on with his life.
For there are a few more dreams left in that valiant heart.
Devassikutty booting the ball with the artifical limb
Courtesy: K.V.Anoop, Mathrubhumi, May 12, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
