No plan of retiring from football anytime soon, says Sunil Chhetri

If you catch a person who is talking about these things (racist remarks) you will find he is ignorant and not knowing the things, says Sunil Chhetri

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has revealed that he does not see himself retiring from the sport anytime soon.

"I do not want to put numbers. My wife keeps reading stuff on the internet and asked me 'what do you think', I said I feel fittest in my life," 35-year-old Chhetri said during a live chat on the Indian Football Team official Facebook page.

"This is the time when I have almost all the knowledge and I am enjoying my football. So, I do not see it anytime soon," he added.

Earlier, Chhetri's teammate Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had said he believes that the captain can play football until he is 41 as the former is "getting younger day by day".

"I can compete with Chhetri in a race because I have bigger strides. He can play six-seven years easily. He is getting younger day by day," Goal.com had quoted Sandhu as saying during an online chat show hosted by the Indian Super League (ISL).

Racism hurtful, it's due to ignorance: Chhetri

Chhetri also said that racism is rooted in ignorance as he expressed his views on the raging issue that has triggered violent protests across the world following African-American George Floyd's death in the US.
 

Asked about his thoughts on incidents of racism, Chhetri said, "It hurts me like anyone lese. It is bad. But most of time, it is due to ignorance, it is because of not knowing.

"If you catch a person who is talking these things (racist remarks) you will find he is ignorant and not knowing the things," Chhetri said.

"You are looking down somebody on the basis of colour or caste or religion, it does not make any sense. There is no logic or truth in that, it should not be done," he added.

Several international cricketers like the West Indies duo of former World Cup-winning captain Darren Sammy and star batsman Chris Gayle have come forward and alleged racial abuse after Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer.

Sammy, while commenting on the protests, had spoken about being called 'Kalu' -- a derogatory word to describe black people -- while playing in the Indian Premier League.

Chhetri said said if more people are made aware and educated about the issue, the incidents of abuse will also go down.