Chhetri plumps for youth

May 19, 2012 - Kevin Kishore |

Kochi

Tags:

football

Indian striker Sunil Chhetri was at Seethi Haji Stadium in Edavanna in Malappuram for just an hour. But the kind of atmosphere and crowd at the stadium awed the striker.

The day after his visit, in an exclusive interview to this newspaper he said, “It is very disappointing that the state has no I-League side.

If a sevens tournament can attract this much attention, imagine the crowd an I-League team would be able to draw. I am astonished to see such an overwhelming number of people.”

“The development of football will happen only if young people are given more opportunities. For this to happen, we should prioritise the tournaments in India.

If only national players are given a chance in all the tournaments then where and when are the youngsters going to play?” he asks.

Asked about the Asian Cup experience last year he said, “It is important for India to be there in the tournament as only then will we know where our place is.

These kinds of tournaments are very important for the Indian team because they let us know our shortcomings, no matter whether we win or lose.”

The player, who is currently playing from Mohun Bagan, says he will not probably feature in the club squad next season. “I would probably not be in the squad.

However, it is not certain because anything can happen. Right now I am enjoying my vacation and am not bothered about my prospects.

I have to spend some time with my family, which I have not done for the past six years,” he said.

Chhetri may also play for a foreign club and he says that plans are on cards. “I am 27-years-old now. I will not get any other chance to play abroad after about two years.

So I am looking for an opportunity but I am not in a position to disclose the names of the clubs at present,” he said.

The player, who was in the Kansas City team that beat Manchester United in a friendly, says that the experience was something unforgettable.

“I swapped shirts with Nani and after that he became a good friend of mine. The match was unforgettable,” he said.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/153209" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-5c05b3c891c59978ffc141828b5e3bcd" value="form-5c05b3c891c59978ffc141828b5e3bcd" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80616427" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>