New Delhi: India's alarmingly decreasing standards in football has concerned players and fans alike, and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is no different.
The country's premier domestic football tournament, the 11th National Football League, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister and he suggested a professional set-up was the need of the hour for improvement of the game's standards.
"We need to professionalise the football set-up in the country to rise at the international level in the sport," the Prime Minister said.
"We have rich history in football. We have done well in Olympics and Asiad but have not been able to keep pace with time in the current years. Efforts need to be made to redress the situation," he added.
Dr Singh was particularly impressed with the sponsors who have shown faith in promoting the game in a country where cricket rules the roost by a great distance.
"It is good that private sponsors are coming in football. It is heartening that they are also supporting games other than cricket," he said.
Even the sport's world governing body FIFA has started programmes to imporve the standards by opening training facilities in four cities in the country, and Dr Singh was impressed by it.
The Prime Minister, on his visit to Brazil last year had mentioned India's need to improve football's standards. "I hope federations of both the countries are following up on this," he said.
Indian football's governing body AIFF Chief Priyaranjan Dasmunsi had done the same and is hoping for things to materialise at the earliest.
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