Bhaichung Bhutia

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Bhaichung Bhutia
Bhutia jubiliant after scoring for Mohun Bagan AC against East Bengal.Photo owned and submitted by Soumyadeb Sinha.
Personal information
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Striker
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11jab

Baichung Bhutia (Hindi: बाईचुंग भुटिया) (born December 15, 1976 in Tinkitam, Sikkim, India) is an Indian football player. He is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is currently the captain of Indian team and is also a free agent.

Football career

He started his education in St. Xaviers School, Pakyong, East Sikkim and eventually won a Scholarship SAI to attend the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. He went on to play for several school and local clubs in his home state of Sikkim. A stellar performance at the 1992 Subroto Cup brought him to the notice of the football establishment. Former India goalkeeper Bhaskar Ganguly spotted his talent and helped him make a move to Calcutta football.

In 1993, at the age of sixteen, he left school to join the professional East Bengal Club in Calcutta. In 1995, he moved to JCT Mills, Phagwara, which went on to win the India National Football League that year. Bhutia was the top scorer in the league, and was chosen to play in the Nehru Cup. He was named "1996 Indian Player of the Year" and has won numerous other awards since then.

In 1997 he returned to East Bengal, and became team captain in the 1998-99 season. Baichung Bhutia has the unique distinction of scoring the only hat-trick in the Derby Clashes between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, when he registered the same in East Bengal's 4-1 triumph in 1997 Federation Cup Semi Final. In 1999 he travelled overseas to play for Bury F.C. after unsuccessful trials with both Fulham F.C. [1]and Aston Villa F.C.[2]with the move improving his conditioning and strategy. In 2002 he returned to India and played for the Mohun Bagan AC for a year before returning again to the East Bengal Club, helping them to win the Asean Cup (Association of South East Asian Nations) Club Championship. He signed up to play for Perak, the Malaysian championship club, from August to October 2003 and returning to East Bengal for the regular season. He continued to play for East Bengal till the end of 2005-2006 season. In 2006, he joined Mohun Bagan AC and has remained with them since then. He has recently renewed his contract for a further two years from 2008 to 2010 with the Mohun Bagan. He played in the Goal 4 Africa match held in the Allianz Arena, Munich on 12 July 2008 for the Edu team led by Clarence Seedorf and scored twice.[3]He scored twice in the AFC Challenge Cup against Turkmenistan. He was also selected as the most valuable player of the tournament.

On 18th May 2009 he was mutually released by Mohun Bagan, due to the questioning of his footballing commitment by the Bagan Officials.He is now returning to East Bengal.[4]

Personal life

Bhutia comes from a Buddhist Bhutia background but is, by conviction an atheist.[5]

Bhaichung with his wife Madhuri at the Mohun Bagan Ground

He married his longtime girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis on December 27, 2004 in his native village of Tinkitam in South Sikkim.[6]

He signed an endorsement deal with Adidas India Marketing Pvt. Ltd in November 2003. Currently he is endorsing Nike India. He has also appeared in the advertisement by Nike, Highlighting The Chance to visit the Nou Camp stadium In Barcelona.

The Sikkimese government has built a stadium, the Baichung Stadium in Namchi, the district headquarters, in honor of Baichung. He is one of the most popular figures in the state and is considered as a role model to many Sikkimese as well to people from other states of India.

In 2008, Bhutia was solicited to run with the Olympic torch in India, but he refused to carry the torch to show support for the Tibetan independence movement. "I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I'm against violence but I thought I should stand by the Tibetan people in their fight," Bhutia said. [7] He was the first sportsman to refuse carrying the Olympic torch. His actions have won him little praise from his colleagues in India however, who criticized him for mixing sports with politics. [8].

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Controversy

In 2009, he won the 3rd season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa[9], which is the Indian version of the international series Dancing With the Stars. However this performance put Baichung in hot water with his club Mohun Bagan, as he missed an exhibition match as well as practice sessions due to his participation in the TV it was a miracle that a football star can dance so well but he proved to be the one and he dancedflawlesslyshow.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Fulham no to Bhutia
  2. ^ Bhutia plays well, but Aston Villa leaves him out
  3. ^ Baichung sizzles in starry night:Sify.com
  4. ^ Baichung to quit Mohun Bagan 18th May 2009
  5. ^ I AM: Baichung Bhutia
  6. ^ 'Congratulations to Baichung and Madhuri'
  7. ^ "Bhutia's red card to China: Won't carry Olympic torch". IBN Live. 1 April, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ IndianExpress.com :: Bhutia gets little support
  9. ^ http://movies.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/jun/02/slide-show-1-baichung-bhutia-on-winning-jhalak.htm
  10. ^ http://www.zeenews.com/news532105.html

External links

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