U-20 FIFA FC: Sports Ministry backs AIFF's bid

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New Delhi, Jul 6: Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Thursday (July 6) backed AIFF's expression of interest to host the under-20 FIFA World Cup in 2019, saying the ministry will always encourage hosting international tournaments in the country.

"AIFF is contemplating it. Whenever there will be a proposal from the Federation, we will look into it. We always want that the country to host as many international tournaments as possible," Goel told reporters.

In other issues, the Indian badminton players, including P Kashyap and H S Prannoy, had asked help from the Ministry of External Affairs and Sports Ministry to get their passports in time to participate in the Canada Open and US Open. Ahead of Indonesia Open also, shuttlers such as N Sikki Reddy and Manu Attri went through a similar ordeal when their passport arrived just a day ahead of their departure for the tournament.

Asked if the Ministry is doing anything about it, Goel said: "Players selection and all these issues are in Federation's hand but nobody has contacted me or complained to me. If there is a complaint or anything regarding it, I personally will look into it, and about the issue, I have been informed that we had intervened in that." said Goel.

"I have a number of targets, including launching the national sports portal, getting 1000 scholarships for sporting talents, bringing sports under concurrent list this year, making sports part of compulsory education," he said.

OneIndia News