Bembem Devi attributes her childhood 'boyfriends' after winning Arjuna Award

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Kolkata, Aug 21: Bembem Devi has been conferred with the Arjuna Award after a span of 34-long years in the history of Indian women's football.

The last Arjuna awardee in the Indian women's football was Shanti Mullick, who received this prestigious award in 1983.

Bembem, the 37-year old striker from Manipur, was busy in taking part in her office league (for Manipur Police) on Sunday (August 20) when she received the good news.

The former Indian international striker, however, did not get ecstatic. The reason behind that is she wants to celebrate it with her childhood boyfriends! The men, who were her playing partners, during her childhood days.

Bembem, while speaking from her residence in Imphal on Sunday, told MyKhel, "Those "boyfriends" deserve the actual credit for my today's award! In my childhood, they used to drag me out of my home and insist me to play football with them.

"Winning battle over them on the field I developed my strength, stamina, and speed. Some of them were more skilled, and as they were boys it became extremely difficult for me to win one-to-one situation. But later on, I also started defeating them."

Bembem, who donned senior India jersey for the first time at the age of 15, had been named footballer of the year by All India Football Federation in 2001.

She hailed the match against Chinese Taipei that year as one of the best matches in her career.

Bembem added, "We lost to Chinese Taipei 2-1. But I was chosen footballer of the match."

The former Indian skipper, on why is she is called 'Durga' of Indian women's football, laughed and said, "I do not know why I am being called that. But sometimes I relish a memory that once the aspiring footballers from Manipur like Bala Devi used to get charged up after hearing my name in the radio commentary.

I am grateful to everybody for the Arjuna award and I want to contribute more to Indian women's football by joining them as coach in near future."