Women's football back in Futsal Fives
Women's football is making a return to the Dr Balaji Sadasivan Futsal Fives this year.
Besides the men's Under-35 and U-21 divisions, the sixth edition of the competition will also feature a women's U-35 category.
The last and only other time there was a women's category in the tournament was in 2011.
Narpani Pearavai Youth (NPY) chairman D Niranjana Kumaraj, 32, said that he was encouraged by the rising popularity of women's football.
The NPY is the youth wing of the People's Association's Indian activity executive committee.
Said Niranjana: "We wanted the tournament to move towards engaging youth without a gender bias.
"We felt this year was the right time to bring the category back, because women's football has started to gain popularity again in recent years.
"This will hopefully answer the calls of our female friends to bring back the category, to provide them the opportunity to play at such a stage."
IN HONOUR
The annual tournament was started in 2010 to honour the late Dr Balaji Sadasivan, the former Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Dr Balaji was a strong supporter of youth initiatives and always believed in sports bringing youth together.
The event takes place this Saturday at the Kovan Sports Centre. Dr Ma Swan Hoo, wife of Dr Balaji, will be the guest-of-honour.
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