Panaji: The Special Olympics Bharat Goa team trained for almost a year for the Genuine Cup in the United States, but not all of them will be on the flight to Houston later this week.In fact, just five of the 14 players, besides coach Amit Fernandes and CEO Victor Vaz, obtained visas in time for the 8-a-side Genuine Cup, an international tournament for athletes with intellectual disability and autism. To make up the numbers, Special Olympics Bharat Goa—who have teamed up with Best of You Sports, a Madrid-headquartered player representation agency—will have players of Indian origin based in the US and aim to make everyone sit up and take notice on their debut.It won’t be easy.In Houston, the Goa team will be up against some of the world’s biggest names. European giants Barcelona, Manchester United, PSG, Newcastle United, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, and Sporting Lisbon have all confirmed participation, while there will be teams from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay too. Besides India, Asia will be represented by teams from Jordan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.“Not an easy task, particularly since we do not have our goalkeeper, but these are all players with experience of international football and know what it takes to perform at a high level,” said Vaz, who will head the delegation. “The boys have trained hard for a year and it’s disappointing that some of them did not get their visas. Others could not obtain (visa) appointments on time.”Vaz is pinning hopes on experienced players like Venson Paes, Francis Parisapogu, Saish Naik, and Joel Rodrigues, all of whom were part of India’s gold-medal winning football squad at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin. It was Venson who scored the winner as the country won its first gold, navigating past teams like hosts Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Saint Lucia.Except Vinson, who has multiple disabilities, all other players have intellectual disabilities.“The players have steely resolve. It would have been good for the entire team to travel to US because they trained hard for a year. Right from the start, it was made clear that participation is subject to obtaining visas, but despite the uncertainty, players continued training. They were all eager,” he said.“In-between, because of the uncertainty (over visa appointments), we halted training at Don Bosco, but they continued training at home and we were monitoring virtually. They are all fit. Now we have started training twice a day, so that we can measure up to the challenge against the world’s best,” said Vaz.A week after the FIFA World Cup concluded in New York, the 2026 Genuine Cup kicks off in Houston, providing participants from around the world with an opportunity to compete, build meaningful connections, and celebrate diversity in an environment that promotes respect and belonging.“Our aim is to make football, a beautiful sport, accessible to everyone,” said Anuj Kichlu, director & CEO for Best of You Sports agency in India. “Seven years ago, we started working on women’s football and now we start our work with players with intellectual disabilities. There are multiple challenges which we have been working on for past two years and it’s great to finally see a team from India get an opportunity to play against some of the biggest teams in the world. We hope this team can create opportunities for many more from India.”
