During her playing days, Aditi Chauhan also became the first Indian woman to play professional football in Europe. She also opened up about the phase where she returned to the game after recovering from her ACL injuries
Aditi Chauhan (Pic: X/@aditi03chauhan)
Indian football player Aditi Chauhan has drawn curtains on her international career. She has come a long way from the time she played football but didn't even know that an Indian women's national football team existed.
"Playing football, I didn't know there was a national team first of all. So I started because of the fun of the game," said Chauhan in an interview with PTI.
She also said that she never even imagined her achievements in her dream. "When I started, I never imagined that, you know, everything that I achieved... it was not even a dream that I could imagine," she added.
When asked if she would like to take up a coaching role for the upcoming generation, the 32-year-old said, "I would love to. These last few years also, I've been mentoring the other goalkeepers. I enjoy that role. I don't want to commit that I want to get into coaching. But yes, I would definitely like to help out".
During her playing days, Aditi Chauhan also became the first Indian woman to play professional football in Europe.
During a successful international career, Chauhan, who caught everyone's attention after being signed up by West Ham United for the Women's Super League in England in 2015, donned the India jersey 57 times and, among others, was part of the senior teams that won the SAFF Women's Championship in 2012, 2016 and 2019. She has also won gold medals at the South Asian Games.
The Chennai-born goalkeeper also opened up about the phase when she suffered ACL injuries, but always wanted to reclaim her spot in the team after her injuries.
"Last year when I came back from my second ACL and played the IWL (Indian Women's League), my whole reason for coming back... was to find that joy again. I didn't want to leave football on a sour note with an injury. There were other goalkeepers playing. So, I had to again earn that spot in starting 11... I knew that once I'm back on the field, I'll earn my number one spot. And I did," she concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
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