KARACHI: The nine young street children from Pakistan who won the bronze medal in the Street Child World Cup (SCWC) in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, were welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm on their return to Karachi in the early hours of Tuesday.

That they snubbed the crowds gathered to receive them at the Jinnah international terminal since 4am is a separate issue altogether, but the children were showered with praise, gifts and rewards by various leaders on their return.

The boys, namely, Samir Ahmed, Abdul Raziq, Aurangzeb Baba, Salman Hussain, Owais Ali, Faizan Fayyaz, Mohammad Shoaib, Mehr Ali, Rajab Ali and their coach Abdul Rashid had left for Brazil to take part in the World Cup on March 28. At the time they weren’t expecting much but the team beat India 13-0 in their first outing followed with a 2-0 win against Kenya and a 3-0 triumph against Mauritius before drawing 1-1 with the US team to reach the top in their group. In the quarter-finals, they defeated the Phillipines 3-2 but lost to Burundi 3-4 in the semi-finals. Still having seen much disappointment in life they pulled up their socks for the third-place match where they met the US again to edge past them 3-2 on penalty kicks to clinch the bronze medal in the seven-a-side tournament.

“I always wanted to go to Brazil to play football,” said the young team captain, Samir Ahmed, while speaking to the media outside the Sindh Assembly where the team was invited to see the proceedings in the afternoon.

“I hope other street children like us also get as lucky as us,” he added.

Another player, Mehr Ali, said every child in the world had some talent or the other that was needed to be explored and nurtured through love and understanding. He said it was unfortunate that people looked down upon street children. “When you look at a beggar and see how ugly or dirty he may be you are only looking at the outer part. Inside even that beggar might have talent for something, which can be nurtured through some love and understanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Women Development and Social Welfare Rubina Qaimkhani, whose guests they were, said they had been working very hard at grooming the youngsters for the past six months. “This is not the story of a single day,” she said. “They have been training very hard under the supervision of their coach for months now and their hard work bore fruit. And while getting exposure abroad, the children also promoted Pakistani culture abroad,” she said.

The minister also read out a letter written by the children for the assembly session. “We are the few lucky children rehabilitated and groomed by the Azad Foundation. We thank our God that He gave us the chance to represent our country in the SCWC and we are glad to have returned home with a medal. We made friends with many other children of other countries and changed their perception of Pakistan. We also learned that street children all over the world face similar problems,” the letter read.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon then announced Rs200,000 for each member of Team Pakistan on behalf of the chief minister. On behalf of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, he said that they intended to build a beautiful stadium in the name of the young heroes.

While congratulating the team, PPP lawmaker Javed Nagori said the president and secretary-general of the Pakistan Football Federation didn’t understand football. “So if we want to see betterment in the sport, kindly bring in football officials who understand the sport,” he said.

On the occasion, Senior Minister for Education Nisar Khuhro offered the children free education till post-graduation. “We also want them to know that they are welcome to play or practice on any ground at any educational institution or sports facility. It is rather sad that we haven’t been able to tap the talent in our lanes and alleys,” he regretted. “Also I don’t want to refer to these children as ‘street children’. They are our children. They belong to Pakistan. We take pride in them,” the minister said.

PTI lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman announced Rs10,000 for each player from his own pocket.

Sindh Minister for Transport Mumtaz Jakhrani announced a reward of Rs500,000 for the team.

PML-F lawmaker Nusrat Sahar Abbasi suggested to the house that a function be organised in children’s honour where they could be presented with the awards being announced for them. “I want the awards announced for them to be presented to them in the shape of cheques or cash awards,” she said.

PPP lawmaker Sharmila Farooqi said that the children should not be associated with any particular area of Karachi such as Lyari, Malir or Ibrahim Hyderi. “They are wearing ajraks and Sindhi caps with their green kits. They have brought honour to Sindh,” she said.

The regular assembly proceedings came to a stop soon after the boys entered the assembly. They along with the NGO, which trained them and organised their participation in the SCWC, Azad Foundation, were lauded by several lawmakers. Most were under the impression that the children hail from Lyari but an official of Azad Foundation the NGO responsible for grooming them informed that most of the children belonged to Ibrahim Hyderi while none of them came from Lyari.

Earlier before sunrise big crowds were witnessed waiting at the airport to receive the team but trying to avoid them, the boys and their team officials came out of the domestic arrivals exit to quickly board a bus that whisked them away.