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Legend in Indian Football Renedy Singh in Silchar; “Football is headed in right direction”

He is one of the best players to have played in the history of Indian football. He has played in the Indian team for over a decade and has dominated the mid-field throughout his active career. He is the football icon of Manipur and the entire North East, Renedy Singh. The former national football start has reached Cachar’s Lakhipur for a three-day invited visit. Lenruoul FC, the homegrown football club from Lakhipur has become quite a sensation in the region and at the invite of the football club’s owner, Renedy Singh has reached Lakhipur today. The club’s owner, Bicky Singh is trying to increase the exposure of the young players to the sport and that is why he has decided to invite icons like Renedy Singh.

The former national star will train and practice with the senior team of Lenruol FC for the next three days. Not just that, Renedy will also spend time with the club’s under-13, under-15 and under-17 teams. The female team of the club is soon going to touch the ground. Keeping an eye on that, an exhibition match has also been organized by the proprietor of the club, Bicky Singh. 5 to 6 national female footballers will also participate in that match where Renedy will be present as the chief guest. Even though he has retired from football to this day the former midfielder still worships only football. It is for the love of this sport that he has come down to inspire the young footballers of the club.

Renedy donned the jersey of the national team from 1998 to 2011. In the qualifying round of the 2002 World Cup, the Indian team won against teams like UAE, Brunei and Yemen and scored 11 points in 6 matches. However, they finished just behind as they trailed Yemen on goal difference. Renedy played a very significant role in the Indian team during that series. Besides, he was an important member of the Indian team that won the Nehru Cup in 2007 and the FC Challenge Cup in 2008. He was a very dynamic footballer in the midfield. Despite losing the match against Bahrain in the Asian Cup in 2011, Renedy played a major role in assisting both the goals of the Indian team. This midfielder from Manipur has played a total of 72 international matches for the country.

He has also donned the jersey of top clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and showed dominance in Indian club football. In this, he has a record of playing more than one hundred matches for East Bengal. Other than that, Renedy has also played for Chirag United, J City, and United Sikkim. During the final year of his career, Renedy also played in Indian Super League. That was the 2014-15 season when he played for the Kerala Blasters and took his team to the final. Even though he retired from football, the former national star could not retire from the field. He restarted his career as an assistant coach for Pune City FC. Later served as assistant coach of NEROCA and East Bengal football clubs.

In between his busy schedule on Monday, the former Indian footballer spoke about Indian football and the present scenario. He said, “In our time we didn’t have such good opportunities as today. The training facilities were not that good enough. There was no good coaching system. But today there is everything and the players are also improving. But there is still a long way to go and we need to improve to compete against the bests in Asia.”

He further said, “Even though it is at a slow pace, Indian football is on the right track. We have miles to go and for that, football needs to improve at the state level in all the states. Just praising Kolkata, Goa and Kerala will not do. The whole country should work on football equally. That’s the main reason why I came here. Bicky and his Lenruol Club are working on a very good plan and football needs people like that.”

When asked if the Indian Super League (ISL) has benefited Indian football, Renedy said, “Of course, it did. Who would have thought that one day such experienced and heavyweight coaches will come to coach the Indian footballers? There is so much to learn from them for our boys. It is the courtesy of ISL that Legends like Andre Nesta and Roberto Carlos came to play football in our country. As a result, Indian football has benefited immensely.” The Manipuri star also said, “See the real thing is, success will not come overnight. It would be a mistake to expect that. Because of what we are doing today, countries like Japan have done 30 years ago.”

Despite having a team from the North East in the ISL, not much success is coming. Regarding this, Renedy said, “Look, there will be no benefit with a team from the Northeast in the ISL. There is a lot of talent in the North East and many boys from Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya are playing in ISL. But only one team won’t help. The higher the number of teams, the more opportunities players will get. Only then, North East football will see some benefit.”

The former national footballer is of the opinion that, a lot of work needs to be done at the state and district levels to improve Indian football. He said, “The current Indian team is doing well, but others are doing better. So we have to work harder. But the Indian team will improve only when the state and district teams do well and we have to pay attention to that. The number of matches, number of tournaments should be increased at the state and district levels. Every state should develop football relations with each other. When there is connectivity progress can be achieved.”

About his introduction to football, Renedy said he stepped into the field holding his father’s hand. He was his inspiration. Other than that, another former national star from Manipur Kiran Khongsai, motivated Renedy.

Replying to whom he will support in the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, Renedy with a cheeky smile said, “Football.” He then added, “I think France, Brazil and Spain will play very well in this World Cup. But don’t ask which team will be the champion, only the Octopus (Paul the Octopus) can say that.”

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