AIFF prez Praful Patel: Sports has to be made a career option

22 September,2016 08:34 AM IST |   |  Noel D'Souza

The recently concluded Rio Olympics was an absolute stinker for India, but thanks to the women — PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, who brought back silver and bronze medals respectively, the sub-continent managed to salvage some pride

AIFFu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0088chief Praful Patel at the Business of Sports and Entertainment summit in Andheri yesterday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe



AIFF u00c2u0080u00c2u0088chief Praful Patel at the Business of Sports and Entertainment summit in Andheri yesterday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

The recently concluded Rio Olympics was an absolute stinker for India, but thanks to the women - PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, who brought back silver and bronze medals respectively, the sub-continent managed to salvage some pride.

It's been almost a month since the carnival in Brazil ended. The euphoria has mellowed, but the result seems to have shaken everyone, with many officials, bureaucrats and corporates talking stock of the sports scene in the country - a change was inevitable.

According to a report launched yesterday by KPMG in association with CII, India is on the right track, but corporate funding in sports is imperative to ignite development.

President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Praful Patel said: "There has to be money to sustain sports. The days of amateur sport are over and professionalism needs to take centrestage. We need to make sure that once a sportsperson enters a sports arena, he or she should be able to make a career out of it."

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