Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar felt that the first ever Fifa U-17 World Cup in India will be competitive as 17 is no longer a young age. “I am looking forward to this tournament. Any World Cup in any format and (age) category is a championship at the highest level where players don’t give anything easy,” he said on Tuesday.
“I was at Rio Olympics last year and I saw women’s rugby match and it was incredible and physical and U-17 World Cup is going to be same. Age of 17 in today’s world is not young. It is competitive age where everyone pushes himself to reach next level,” Sachin said at the launch of two new Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India two new sports channels Sony Ten 2 HD and Sony Ten 3 HD to make it 11 sports channels overall.
“The best thing is how spectators have responded. The World Cup will take football to next level in India and support from home crowd will go beyond it,” he said.
Tendulkar was announced as SPN’s brand ambassador for sports and the retired master blaster thought it is a great responsibility. “Sports is my life, it is like oxygen and my passion. It is great responsibility which I enjoy. My journey started at the age of 10 after watching Kapil Dev lift the (World Cup) trophy. Many youngsters caught inspiration. What you leave behind is important. Our generation left behind and now current Indian team is taking it foward,” he said.
He recollected the Dipa Karmarkar moment in Rio last year, emphasising how television can inspire athletes from far flung areas. “Rio was an incredible experience for me. We had some exciting moments like in badminton and sad moments. What caught my eye was Dipa Karmarkar, the way she did it was incredible coming from Agartala. That happens by watching heroes on television,” Sachin added.
Tendulkar also said participating and watching sports is the recipe to stay healthy. “Young and unhealthy is perfect recipe for disaster. In new India we need to participate more and watch sports. In return we will get healthy life,” he said.
