Baichung Bhutia: The torchbearer of Indian Football

Baichung Bhutia, the captain of Indian Football team is the one man who popularized the game of football in a cricket-crazy nation of India. Bhutia who is a role model of several aspiring young footballers of India was born to Dorzi Dorma and Sonam Topden in Tinkitam on 15 December 1976. His uncle Karma Bhutia encouraged him to play football. At the age of nine, he won a football scholarship from Sports Authority of India (SAI) to attend the Tashi Nangyal Academy in Gangtok. The torchbearer of Indian Football is popularly called the “Sikkimese Sniper” due to his brilliant shooting skills in football. Several former Indian footballers has dubbed him as “God’s gift to Indian Football” and “icon of his generation”.

The Arjuna award winner was noticed for the first time in Subroto Cup 1992 where he impressed all and sundry with his performance. He was awarded the ” Best Player” in this tournament. The former Indian Goalkeeper Bhasksar Ganguly was mesmerized by his talent and urged him to play professional football. At the age of 16, he joined East Bengal Club of Kolkata and started playing for it. He was awarded Indian Player of the Year Award in 1996. He earned the recognition of being the only footballer to score hatrick in a football match between two arch rivals- East Bengal and Mohun Bagan clubs of the Indian Football. In 1999, he became the first Indian Footballer to play professional football in Europe for the English club Bury.

He made his international debut for India in the 1995 Nehru Cup against Uzbekistan where he scored a goal to become the youngest ever goalscorer of India. He was just 19 at that time. Since then, Bhutia has enthralled fans with his impressive performance, getting better day by day. Under his leadership India has won several tournaments such as Nehru Cup, L G Cup, South Asian Football Federation( SAFF) Championship which we have won three times and the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup. 2009 Nehru cup was special for him as he earned his 100th cap in the tournament. He was gifted “Player of the Tournament” trophy for his captivating performances in all the matches of tournament.