Indian football legend IM Vijayan on Friday advised his one-time strike partner Bhaichung Bhutia to take the all-out defeat. India Football Federation (AIFF) presidential election in “sports spirit”.
Former captain Bhutia, a junior contemporary of Vijayan, lost to former goalkeeper Kalyan Choubey for the AIFF president’s post by a massive 33-1 margin.
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“He (Bhutia) should take it in sportsmanship. Victory or defeat happens in life. In the football field too, we won a lot of matches and lost a lot. If you win and lose with sportsmanship, then everything will be fine.
“I had spoken to Bhaichung earlier but did not speak to him after the election. I will talk to him when we meet,” said 53-year-old Vijayan, who is one of India’s greatest footballers.
He and Bhutia formed a deadly strike partner for the Indian team in the late nineties and early 2000s.
Vijayan said it is the same for him if one of Choubey and Bhutia becomes the AIFF president.
“Kalyan is also a footballer. For us (players) either Kalyan or Bhaichung would have been fine, as both are former footballers. Kalyan has got a lot of support (from the electoral college) and hence he won. This is good.
“For us, for the first time, me, Shabbir Ali and Climax Lawrence, we were earlier in the technical committee, now we can participate in the executive committee and we have the right to vote. So it gave us energy. ,
The four most capped India players among men and two among women were co-opted as executive committee members. Bhutia has said that he would like to be on the executive committee.
Vijayan, Shabbir Ali and Climax Lawrence are the other three male former players to be included in the executive committee, while Tababi Devi and Pinky Magar are two of the women.
The co-opted members serve for one term only and another group of former players will replace them after the election in four years’ time.
“Kalyan knows football and he will bring (his views) and we will sit from tomorrow. It is good for the players that a footballer is leading the federation,” signed off Vijayan.
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