kolkata if abhijit mondal achieves his dream next month he will prove that good eyesight in not a prerequisite for summiting the everest this 38yearold has already shown to the world that the blind can also play football and pretty well at that visually impaired men have set foot on the highest point on earth but abhijit 38 will be the first to attempt the summit from the more difficult and hazardous north face from tibet this teacher of kaikhali free primary school started losing his vision when he was only four first it was smallpox that robbed him of his right eye then ten years ago the retina of his left eye got detached after he got hit by a cricket ball hes now 70 blind abhijit will be part of a fivemember team comprising members from various mountaineering clubs that will attempt the climb through the north ridge route if we succeed mondal will be the first person to summit everest through this route that is much steeper and riddled with free falls than the south col route through nepal team leader debabrata mukherjee told toi mukherjee a member of pathajatra a mountaineering club put this team together pathajatra has close links with voice of the world a blind school in fact abhijit developed a passion for climbing after he joined this school in 2007 he underwent basic training at the darjeelingbased himalayan mountaineering institute and went along with pathajatra on various expeditions including one that peaked jongri 15000 feet and another to the kanchenjunga base camp 18000 feet as a child his blindness in one eye did not stop abhijit from developing a passion for sports he was good in football and cricket but the accident on the pitch ten years ago forced him off the field a chance visit to the sports authority of india sai complex at salt lake in 2011 however changed that i found blind people playing football there and so i asked sai if i could join the team in a very short time i proved my ability and was selected for the indian blind football team and made its vicecaptain said abhijit the team put together by the kochibased society for rehabilitation of the visually challenged srvc and the indian blind sports association ibsa played at the international fiveaside b1 tournament at bangkok last august it was a challenging tournament and we finished fourth said abhijit abhijit explains his football skills with my extremely limited vision i can somehow make out the ball if kicked from a long distance but find it very difficult to tackle shots from a close distance at such times i move forward and guard the movement of the player to prevent him from scoring a goal the coach also taught some techniques that helped me a lot he played really well as the captain of the west bengal blind football team and so he chose him for the national team abhijit is a fast learner and