Injured Bhutia seeks Asian Cup rescue
Indian captain Baichung Bhutia has made a desperate call to his doctor to save his AFC Asian Cup hopes.
With a right calf injury giving him only a “50-50” chance of playing in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ tournament, Bhutia has called for his orthopeadic physician, Dr Kannan Pugazendhi, to fly from Chennai to India’s training base in Dubai to help him get fit.
“It would be icredibly disappointing to miss out on the Asian Cup finals. I don’t think I will ever get a chance to play a tournament bigger than this,” the 34-year-old was quoted as saying by the Hindu Times.
Bhutia said he cannot train with the ball but has been doing a lot of cycling.
India are pooled with two FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifiers - Australia and Korea Republic - in Group C of the January 7-29 tournament, along with Bahrain, who missed out on South Africa by a whisker.
The Indians are due to play a warm-up match against Syria on December 26 but reports from the Indian media indicate that the match may be in doubt.
“It would be icredibly disappointing to miss out on the Asian Cup finals. I don’t think I will ever get a chance to play a tournament bigger than this,” the 34-year-old was quoted as saying by the Hindu Times.
Bhutia said he cannot train with the ball but has been doing a lot of cycling.
India are pooled with two FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifiers - Australia and Korea Republic - in Group C of the January 7-29 tournament, along with Bahrain, who missed out on South Africa by a whisker.
The Indians are due to play a warm-up match against Syria on December 26 but reports from the Indian media indicate that the match may be in doubt.
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