Guwahati: With the right infrastructure, Assam will be able to produce sporting icons of the caliber of football icons Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbappé, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated on Wednesday.
The Assam Chief Minister wrote this in reaction to a post by Kalyan Chaubey, the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), on X (formerly Twitter).
In a post on Tuesday, the AIFF head had acknowledged the Assam CM’s “leadership” and “love for football.”
“[The] CM’s recent allocation of Rs 600 crore to build an international stadium in Guwahati and Rs 150 crore for Kokrajhar stadium is commendable”, Chaubey posted, adding that these initiatives in Assam are bound to benefit Indian football as a whole.
In 2022, the Chief Minister announced a grant of Rs 150 crore for a state-of-the-art sports stadium in Kokrajhar stating it would help “nurture and recognize” sporting talent in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The same year, Assam Sports Minister Bimal Bora announced that the state government had allocated Rs 1,000 to develop sports infrastructure in the state.
Reacting to Chaubey’s post, Biswa Sarma said that these initiatives are being undertaken in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision” to establish India as a great sporting power “and achieving this is our collective goal.”
“We, in Assam, love football and if we have the right infrastructure and support system – the next Messi, Ronaldo or Mbappé will come from our state”, he wrote further.
The Assam Chief Minister has often spoken about the need to develop and popularize sporting disciplines in the state, with a particular emphasis on football. Kicking off the Guwahati Premier Football League at the Judges Field in the state capital last month, he said that sports can fight “social evils” and appealed to all to come forward to promote a “sporting culture” in Assam.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the state which is home to popular events like the Bordoloi Trophy and A-Division League.
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