Suman Chakravorty & Sabyasachi Bagchi, New Delhi: The day when the entire nation will be glorified by the Indian colts as they would be representing in the FIFA U17 World Cup for the first time ever in the history of Indian football, far away from New Delhi, India’s one of the finest Captains of all time, Samar (Badru) Banerjee, who led the nation in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, would be pricked in pain at Kolkata. The legendary footballer felt that he has been ‘neglected’ and ‘insulted’ by the AIFF and the FIFA U17 World Cup organizing committee.
In an interaction with www.xtratime.in , Badru said, “Mr Joy Bhattacharya called me five days back and requested me to remain available as they want to invite me for this historic occasion. Since then I had no calls from them, not even any invitational letter either. All of a sudden, at the last moment they have contacted with me if I want to go there.” He felt disgusted as he continued, “If you cannot give respect, you have no right to disrespect me as well. I have decided that I won’t go tomorrow. I will play so that the young boys do well. They are our diamonds. I wish them luck.”
Legendary Chuni Goswami too got invited by the AIFF and the organizing committee, but he has decided not to go, as his health is not well. In a chat with XtraTime, Chuni said, “I got the invitational letter and air ticket as well. But I can’t go as I’m not well.”
Meanwhile, another legend P.K Banerjee has arrived at New Delhi despite his physical ailment and long delay in the flight. He told XtraTime, “Our boys will make history tomorrow and I want to witness that. I have come all the way just to cheer for them.”
On the flip side, The AIFF to felicitate Indian football legends like I M Vijayan, Bhaskar Ganguly, Bhaichung Bhutia and Bembem Devi as well on the historic day here. Among the celebrity guests, The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood star Varun Dhawan will surely be there. Amitabh Bachchan and Sunny Leone too might come as surprise guests. The FIFA delegates too are invited.