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What’s the story?
Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri attended the inaugural Indian Sports Honours gala in Mumbai on Saturday and was nominated along with cricket players Cheteshwar Pujara, Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin along with kabaddi player Pardeep Narwal and hockey stalwart Rupinder Pal Singh for the Best Indian Sportsperson in team sports award.
He interacted with the media and was all praise for the India U-17 national team and the fruitful results the recently concluded FIFA U-17 World Cup has brought and the long-term benefits, it will provide for Indian football.
When asked about his favourite U-17 player, he said, “All of them! All of them are very fond of me. Jeakson’s goal was good. Dheeraj was good. The best part of the team was the team unity.”
In case you didn’t know...
The Indian Sports Honours are an annual event in its inaugural year, which aim to recognize the best sportspersons in the country. Kerala Blasters fan club Manjappada were also awarded the Best Fans Club Award at the event.
The heart of the matter
Chhetri was extremely vocal about the massive success of the recently concluded World Cup as he was quoted saying, "The kind of popularity, the kind of interest that has been generated by the World Cup has been massive."
"I just hope that we build on it. It’s one thing to have a tournament, and more important thing to build on it," he said.
What's next?
Sunil Chhetri now travels to Goa for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifiers encounter against Myanmar, slated to take place on November 14. He then joins his team at Bengaluru FC for the upcoming Indian Super League that starts on November 17.
Author's take
Sunil Chhetri's words about the India U-17 side echo the sentiments of every Indian football fan as he praised the efforts of the team and also stressed on the importance of building on the momentum that has been generated.
