The session was titled Good Governance and Moving Towards a Multi Sporting Nation. Kalyan Chaubey, the AIFF president, and Igor Stimac, the Indian football team head coach, shared the dais. There has been a lot of speculation about them not seeing eye-to-eye. The two busted the myth.
“After the Asian Cup, a lot of people speculated that the Federation was going to sack the chief coach,” said Chaubey, confirming that he and the chief coach are very much in communication.
“Maybe, a tournament didn’t go well, but we weren’t going to change the entire technical staff on the basis of that, when we are going to play the Fifa World Cup qualifiers and have a chance to qualify for the third round.”
Stimac was asked about whether he gets the required support from the Federation.“The speculations come as a surprise,” said Stimac.
“Seven months ago, I had a meeting with the (AIFF) president and vice-president about what we were going to do in the next two years. This is the second phase of our process and we have to go through the sufferings,” he added, vowing that the Indian team would give it their all to qualify for the third round.
Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was a part of the panel and he stressed upon building trust between all stakeholders as a bedrock of good governance. “As a nation, we have to look at sport differently, how it can play a meaningful role in nation building,” said the legend.
Rahul Bose, the president of Indian Rugby Football Union, said: “The fulcrum of anything good is to make something good for the players.” He also served up a brutal reminder: “Nobody is interested in a sport that doesn’t win.”
Pramod Bhagat, the defending Paralympics badminton champion in men’s singles, oozed confidence about retaining his crown in Paris. “Yes, I believe I’m the best,” he said. “Else, I won’t be able to win.” He also spoke about how sport in India is becoming inclusive.