Hyderabad: India's goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan is a much-respected name in the International circuit. Being the only Indian woman and third Indian overall to play in England, ETV BHARAT had an exclusive chat with her.
On being asked of her recent snub from Delhi seniors state football team for the Senior Women's Football Championship, Aditi said that it was an 'unfortunate incident'. She added on saying that she had informed Football Delhi beforehand about her national commitments and her participation as an Indian ambassador for a UNESCO event for which she was also released early by the national team.
However, later on, she was omitted from the Delhi squad despite Football Delhi first agreeing to her mentioned commitments. She says, her snub was very disappointing for her personally and that is why she raised this issue with the association.
Aditi further opinionated that there should a more transparent procedure for a team selection so that the players and the onlookers know exactly how the selection is done and are satisfied of the same. Chauhan further reasoned that a transparent system is also integral for a player's development as sometimes the players tend to drop the sport seeing that there is no transparency in the system which demotivates them to continue the game.
Aditi also claimed that in India the priority is everything but the players, and she urged that this needs to change if India has to be a sporting powerhouse. On being asked about the differences of the selection process in England and India, Aditi said that in England there is a proper pathway where players first play in their community clubs and then grow on to play in the third-division until they reach the premier division.
Also in England, Aditi stated, all the lower leagues are well covered by the media and if for any reason the coaches or the selectors miss the training they have videos to judge and select the players, whereas in India this is not at all practiced.
Aditi also claimed that it will take time for Indian fans to start watching Indian football leagues, however, she is confident of the same. She also said that the women football in India is heading into the right direction with small but effective steps.
Aditi further informed us that the indian team will now assemble for a camp in October 30 for future tournaments, most importantly the AFC Qualifiers which will be held in March and SAFF Championships which is expected to be held in December.
