Dipendu overwhelmed after meeting Maradona, getting tips for development of sport in Bengal

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Kolkata, Dec 14: Dipendu Biswas, the former India international footballer, is overwhelmed following a brief meeting with legend Diego Maradona at the hotel on Tuesday (December 12).

The Argentinian great was in Kolkata for a three-day visit where he was supposed to take part in a friendly football match against a Kolkata team.

Former India international footballers, including Dipendu Biswas, were supposed to play against Maradona-lead team and the skipper of Kolkata side was former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. Everybody was present at the ground but following reluctance from Maradona the much-awaited match did not materialise.

Dipendu, however, met the legendary footballer at his hotel and after a 10 minutes’ discussion with Maradona, the former East Bengal and Mohun Bagan striker revealed, “I told him I am also a public representative from my district and with the help of the current government in West Bengal, I am trying to develop the infrastructure in Bengal football.

"Maradona was very happy to have gone through the project I showed him and he also expressed pleasure after listening to my request whether he could take some initiative to help build the infrastructure and other facilities for the budding footballers all over the state. He has asked me to go ahead with the same project and a written proposal to Dubai, where Maradona nowadays lives and promised me some help regarding my appeal.”

Citing the example of recently held FIFA under-17 World Cup matches in Kolkata, Dipendu had also explained Maradona how the state sports ministry, under the inspiration of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been trying to build up a modern residential football school for the talented budding footballers.

The former Indian footballer added, “Diego was also excited to have heard about all these things and he assured me of trying to do help (financially) to our endeavour.”