In club vs country conundrum, Chhetri gives priority to national duty

In the club versus country conundrum over the Hangzhou Asian Games Indian football turned out to be the loser but Sunil Chhetri arguably the countrys greatest footballer ever rose above all these and gave precedence to national dutyThe 39yearold talisman who has created seemingly unsurmountable national records in his 18yearlong international career raised his hand and decided to lead a ragtag national team after many Indian Super League clubs refused to release their playersThirteen players including key defender Sandesh Jhingan and number one goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu from the original 22member squad announced last month were not released by their respective ISL clubsA hapless All India Football Federation AIFF after hectic parleys was able to stitch a secondrung 18member team made up mostly of inexperienced players with Chhetri being the lone notable faceAlso Read Sunil Chhetri secures his place in Indian squad for the Hangzhou Asian GamesHe Chhetri is such a reputed player and its not a full strength team But he stuck his neck out and said he wanted to go for the sake of the country and hes ready for the Asian Games Hats off to him an AIFF official told PTIWe knew that he would rise above all these and would give the call of the nation priority and he did just thatChhetris club Bengaluru FC had six players in the initial 22 including Gurpreet and it released two players the other one being Rohit DanuOf course his Chhetris club said yes and released him So credit to Bengaluru FC also The club made the sacrifice of releasing its best player when it is not a FIFA window the official saidThe clubs are however are not bound to release the players as the Asian Games did not fall in the FIFA international match windowFootball competition in Asian Games is basically under23 affair with three overaged players permitted per teamThis will be Chhetris third Asian Games the first being the 2006 edition as a 22yearold under English coach Bob Houghton The team was led by Bhaichung Bhutia who was included as on the overaged players India drew with Hong Kong 11 beat Maldives 21 and lost to Iran 02 to crash out in the group stageIn the 2014 edition in Incheon Korea Chhetri captained India after being included as one of the above23 players permitted India again ended their campaign in the group stage after losing to UAE 05 and Jordan 02Chhetri has played for India 142 times and has scored 92 goals the most by an Indian He is also currently the third most prolific scorer in international football among active players behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel MeesiHe recently became a father but despite that he has chosen to travel to China for the Asian GamesChhetri also chose to make the sacrifice of leaving his newborn baby and wife to attend to the call of national duty it does not happen to too many players the AIFF official saidChhetri was not in the Indian team that took part in the Kings Cup in Thailand as he needed to be with his wife and newborn babyThe Indian team which is expected to leave for China on Saturday begins its Asian Games campaign with a match against China on September 19 followed by games against Bangladesh September 21 and Myanmar September 24The top two teams from the six groups will make it to the prequarterfinals with four bestranked thirdplaced sides also qualifyingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever