The long-drawn saga of All India Football Federation elections finally came to an end as former Indian goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey beat Bhaichung Bhutia to be elected as the president of the All India Football Federation here at the Football House on Friday.
The election held a lot of significance to the Indian football fraternity as after multiple delays, court intervention, and FIFA ban on the country due to ‘third party interference’, finally a former player was chosen to the top spot of the federation for the very first time since its inception.
It was widely believed that Kalyan, a former player who played for both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan would win the election at a canter and the former Indian skipper Bhaichung would not have much chance. And true to the prediction, the script played out in an exact manner with Kalyan winning by a whopping margin of 33-1.
Kalyan’s name was proposed by Mulrajsinh Chudasama, the General Secretary of Gujarat Football Association, and seconded by Kipa Ajay, the secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Football Association, while Bhutia was nominated by Gopalkrishna Kosaraju, president of Andhra Football Association and backed by the secretary of Rajasthan Football Association, Dileep Singh Shekhawat.
Karnataka Football Association President N A Haris, a sitting Congress MLA, who won the election, beating Manvendra Singh of Rajasthan FA will join Kalyan as his deputy, while Arunachal Pradesh’s Kipa Ajay beat Gopalakrishna Kosaraju of Andhra Pradesh to be elected as the treasurer.
It is being speculated that the new dispensation will appoint Shaji Prabhakaran, the president of Delhi FA as the General Secretary of the AIFF.
Meanwhile, all the 14 candidates who filed nomination for executive committee members including G P Palguna, Avijit Paul, P Anilkumar, Valanka Natasha Alemao, Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, Menla Ethenpa, Mohan Lal, Arif Ali, K Neibou Sekhose, Lalnghinglova Hmar, Deepak Sharma, Vijay Bali, and Syed Imtiaz Husain have been elected unopposed.
Bhaichung took the defeat in his stride and expressed that despite the loss, he will continue to work for the better of Indian football.
Newly elected All India Football Federation President Kalyan Chaubey said that he “will engage with all stakeholders to take Indian Football forward together.”
Having played over 200 international matches, Navjot Kaur has been an integral part of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team’s success over the past few years.
Since her debut in 2012, she has represented the country at all the major tournaments and featured in some of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team’s greatest victories. However, the 27-year-old player missed out on her third appearance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games after testing positive for Covid-19.
Navjot, who had to return home even before the Indian team’s campaign began at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, spoke about the disappointment, “To be honest, it was disappointing to leave like that. It was very difficult and hard for me to accept. I haven’t missed out on any major tournament ever before, so I was dealing with this situation for the first time in my career.”
“I tested positive when I was in Nottingham where we were training before checking into the Games village. I had no major symptoms and was hopeful of getting back to the team by the time we moved to the village. I was being tested every day and unfortunately, it kept showing positive readings,” she added.
However, Navjot mentioned the team’s support that kept her in the right spirit throughout this ordeal.
She said, “Our Chief Coach Janneke Schopman, staff members, and my teammates were in constant touch with me throughout. They were checking on me every day during the isolation phase.
I feel lucky to be part of such a wonderful team, they were really supportive and helped me during the tough time.
Even mindfulness had helped me deal with the situation, to stay calm and be in the present moment.”
Sharing her experience of watching the team’s historic bronze medal win at the Commonwealth Games from home, Navjot said, “I watched all the matches with my family. It was heart-breaking to see the team lose against Australia with a very narrow margin. But the way the team bounced back to win the bronze medal was inspiring. The World Cup was also dispointing.”