India’s U-17 team captain Amarjit Singh’s confidence is set to boost during the World Cup as his full family will be here to cheer him. Amarjit belongs to a poor family in a village in Thoubal district of Manipur and his parents have expressed their inability to buy air tickets for them to travel to Delhi to watch their son play in the FIFA U-17 World Cup that begins on October 6.
Financial help has come in from some quarters in the state after former India captain Renedy Singh took the initiative in this regard. Besides a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), some private business houses have also promised financial help to all the eight players from Manipur who have been named in the 21-member Indian team.
Financial help
Amarjit’s elder brother Umakanta Singh said he will bring his parents and his sister also to Delhi to watch the India captain play the FIFA U-17 World Cup. “An MLA (from Sagolband) has given us Rs 20,000 in hand yesterday when he came to our house along with Renedy. He (the MLA) is going to give the same amount to all the eight players from Manipur who are in the Indian team,” Umakanta told PTI .
Read: Amarjit surprised at being chosen captain
“Then, Imphal-based Eastern Motors will also give us some fund and my parents have gone to Imphal today (to collect the money). Moreover, through Renedy, Mumbai-based Tata Trust has also promised funds to all the players,” he added.
Umakanta said all the four members of his family will travel to Delhi. “My parents will have a language problem in Delhi and so I will have to be there. We cannot leave my sister alone at home and so she will also have to accompany us,” said Umakanta, who himself is a footballer and was enrolled with St. Stephen’s Academy in Chandigarh.
No official communication
According to reports, the Manipur government has announced Rs. 5 lakh each to all eight players from Manipur, but Umakanta said his family has not been told this officially. “I read this in the newspaper but we have not received any official communication from the state government, orally or in writing,” he said.
The All India Football Federation also announced on Sunday it will make logistical arrangements for the parents of all the Indian team members to watch matches in Delhi. The parents of Amarjit’s first cousin Jeakson Singh, who is another member of the Indian team, will also be in Delhi during the U-17 World Cup, according to Umakanta.
“Jeakson’s father has been having health problems (he suffered a stroke a few years ago) but he wants to go to see his son play in the U-17 World Cup. So, his (Jeakson’s) parents will also come to Delhi. I will be bringing all of them to Delhi,” he said.
India faces United States of America on October 6 in its opening Group A match before taking on Colombia (October 9) and Ghana (October 12). All of India’s group matches will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
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