Six Indians picked for NFL training camp

Remember the 'Million Dollar Arm' contest? The one which sent Rinku Singh and Dinesh to USA thanks to the speed with which they could pitch a ball? Yes, the one that was also a subject of a movie. In a similar contest, six Indians have been picked up to go to the National Football League training camp in the USA.

The contest called 'Million Dollar Kick' saw 22-year-old Goan footballer Raju Vasudev Haldankar emerge the winner, and now he, along with 5 others, would travel to the US for training and hopefully a career in the NFL as a kicker.

Try-outs were held in Delhi, Goa, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Shillong, Dehradun, and Lucknow before the finals and the winner was given a prize money of USD 5000 and some other gifts.

Haldankar won the National Finals at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, where it all began a month ago with a neat 55-yard kick. 

The first and second runner-up were Dylan D'Costa, who was earlier a wildcard from South Goa Try Out, and Gnanendrasinh Jhala, winner of the Ahmedabad Try Out. 

Apart from the three winners, the organisers also picked three other 'potential stars'. They are another Goan, Elton Godinho, also a 'wildcard' in Goa Try Outs, Gorakhpur's Mukesh Singh, winner of Lucknow Try Out, and the phenomenally talented Arshad Khan, a Lucknow goalkeeper, who won the first Try Out in Delhi.