Baichung Bhutia

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Personal information
Baichung Bhutia

Date of birth	December 15, 1976 (1976-12-15) (age 31)
Place of birth	Tinkitam, Sikkim, India
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Mohun Bagan
Number	15
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993-1995 1995-1997 1997-1999 1999-2002 2002-2003 2003-2006 2006 2006-present	East Bengal Club JCT Mills East Bengal Club Bury Mohun Bagan East Bengal Club →Perak (loan), Mohun Bagan	? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 37 (3) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?)
National team²
1997–	India	51 0(20)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 July 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Baichung Bhutia (born December 15, 1976 in Tinkitam, Sikkim, India) is an Indian football player. He is known by his fans as the torchbearer of Indian Football in the international arena. He is currently captain of Indian team and plays for Mohun Bagan.

1 Football career
2 International career
3 Personal life
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Football career

He started his education is St. Xaviers School, Pakyoung, East Sikkim and eventually won a SAI Scholarship to attend the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. He went on to play for several school and local clubs in his home state of Sikkim. A stellar performance at the 1992 Subroto Cup brought him to the notice of the football establishment.

In 1993, at the age of sixteen, he left school to join the professional East Bengal Club in Calcutta. In 1995, he moved to JCT Mills, Phagwara, which went on to win the India National Football League that year. Bhutia was a top scorer in the league, and was chosen to play in the Nehru Cup. He was named "1996 Indian Player of the Year", and has won numerous other awards.

In 1997 he returned to East Bengal, and became team captain in the 1998-99 season. In 1999 he travelled overseas to play for Bury F.C. after unsuccessful trials with both Fulham F.C. ^[1]and Aston Villa F.C. ^[2]with the move improving his conditioning and strategy. In 2002 he returned to India and played for the Mohun Bagan AC for a year before returning again to the East Bengal Club, and helping them to win the Asean Cup (Association of South East Asian Nations) Club Championship, which is a second tier tournament according to AFC. He also signed up to play for Perak, the Malaysian championship club, from August to October of 2003. For the season 06-07 he had again signed for Mohun Bagan AC and he extended his contract to 2008-09 the next year as he declined to join East Bengal on grounds of mistreatment metted unto him by the East Bengal FC club officials^{citations needed}. He signed an endorsement deal with Adidas India Marketing Pvt. Ltd in November of 2003. Currently he is endorsing Nike India. He has also appeared in the advertisvement by Nike, Highlighting The Chance to visit the Nou Camp stadium In Barcelona.

The Sikkimese government has built a stadium, the Baichung Stadium in Namchi, the district headquarters, in honor of Baichung. He is one of the most popular figures in the state and is considered as a role model to many Sikkimese as well to people from other states of India.

In 2008, Bhutia was solicited to run with the Olympic torch in India, but he refused to carry the torch to show support for the Tibetan independence movement. "I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I'm against violence but I thought I should stand by the Tibetan people in their fight," Bhutia said. ^[3] He is the only Indian to date who has refused to carry the Olympic torch. His actions have won him praise from the Tibetan community and its supporters in India ^[4].

[edit] International career

Baichung has been regarded as one of the best Indian footballers of all time. He has scored 20 goals for India in 51 appearances. He silenced all his critics who felt he should retire after a stellar performance in the ONGC Nehru Cup 2007 with 3 goals in 5 matches.The Indian sharp-shooter thinks that the country is finally getting on track after their impressive win over Syria in the 2007 ONGC Nehru Cup Final.

[edit] Personal life

Bhutia comes from a Buddhist background, although he is by conviction an atheist.^[5] He married his longtime girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis on December 27, 2004 in his native village of Tinkitam in South Sikkim.^[6]