By Shraishth Jain,

AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The Indian U-16 national team is gearing up for its biggest challenge yet as it gets set to participate in the AFC U-16 Championships, which get underway later this month. Drawn against Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia, the young Tigers will be hoping to seal a place in the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup by reaching the last four of the competition.

Coach Bibiano Fernandes has some highly-talented names at his disposal, especially in attack, and one of them is none other than Bhuvnesh Rajesh Shendre, who hails from Madhya Pradesh and has a prolific goal-scoring record at youth level with DSK Shivajians.

His journey to the national team is a heartwarming one, with his father playing a major role in helping him get to where he is. "My mother did not allow me to play football and wanted to focus on studies. However, my father trusted me to follow my dreams and shaped me into the player I am today," said Bhuvnesh.

His father runs a football academy and it was under his wing that young Bhuvnesh honed his skills. "I used to help my father with the day-to-day work of the academy and also trained under him," he explains. "He treated me like any other student and did not give any special treatment to me."

Bhuvnesh was part of the team that recorded the memorable 1-0 win against reigning Asian U-16 champions Iraq at the WAFF Championships last month and it was him who scored the injury-time winner with a header. His favourite player is Chelsea and Brazil winger Willian, with his speed and dribbling abilities wowing the 15-year-old.