Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Thursday expressed confidence that the Indian Under-17 football team will come out with flying colours in the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup, slated to be held from October 6 to 28 across six venues in the country.
Commenting on the preparations for the marquee tournament, Goel said he had personally taken stock of all the venues and directed prompt completion of all the pending work.
Exuding confidence on the Indian colts ahead of the tournament, Goel said Indian football has taken rapid strides at the global stage in the last three to four years and the same can be expected from the young guns.
"Our football team is well prepared for the FIFA U-17 World Cup and I hope that they will make us proud with their performance in the tournament," Goel told reporters after giving an account of the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led central government's three years in power.
"If you see how our national football team has improved in the last three years, specially in the rankings we have closed in to the top-100 rankings from the No. 151 spot. Our government is committed to promote all the non-cricket sports in the country but at the same time, we are happy to see both cricket and football having almost the same kind of fan following in India," he added.
Goel further said that he was initially not satisfied with the preparations of the FIFA U-17 World Cup stadium in Kochi but the FIFA had given full marks to the venue after he intervened.
"There were initially some issues with the Kochi stadium and after paying a visit I directed the authorities to take care of whatever was needed to be corrected. The FIFA team then visited the venue and gave full marks to all the other five too," he said.
The minister also said he had personally visited all the training centres and met the footballers to get a feel of their preparations.
The FIFA U-17 World Cup will be played in New Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kochi, Goa and Navi Mumbai.
--IANS
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