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The Indian national football team was crowned SAFF Champions for the ninth time in its history after defeating Kuwait via penalties in the SAFF Championship 2023 final in Bengaluru on Tuesday. India beat Kuwait 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 in regulation time.
Indian captain Sunil Chhetri stepped up to take the first penalty kick against Kuwait and promptly hit the net. Chhetri’s pregnant wife Sonam Bhattacharjee was seen jumping for joy after India went ahead 1-0 in the penalty shootout in a video that went viral on social media.
Watch Sunil Chhetri’s pregnant wife celebrating penalty kick against Kuwait in SAFF Championship final here…
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Penalty Shootout!
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,#SAFFChampionship2023 #INDKUW pic.twitter.com/IaTfnXENjz— FanCode (@FanCode) 4 July 2023
The SAFF Championship in Bengaluru has also produced many firsts. India captain Sunil Chhetri leads such records having equaled Maldives captain Ali Ashfaq’s 23 goals in the SAFF Championship, which is the joint most by any individual.
Chhetri, with his hat-trick in the opening match of the SAFF Championship against Pakistan, also became the second-highest goalscorer in the history of Asian football, surpassing Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari (on 89).
While the India skipper has been in fine form and scoring goals regularly, Blue Tigers custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has been quietly doing his job at the other end, earning five clean sheets in a row for India since the Hero Intercontinental Cup. , The 31-year-old broke his own record of four clean sheets set in 2018 when he went scoreless in the Hero Intercontinental Cup and an international friendly against China. ,
Last month, during a match against Vanuatu at the Kalinga Stadium, Chhetri had revealed that he and his wife Sonam were expecting their first child. After scoring, Chhetri celebrated by kissing his wife Sonam, who was in the stands.
In a post-match interview, he revealed that he had dedicated this goal to her, mentioning that they were expecting a child. This heartwarming gesture added a personal touch to Chhetri’s remarkable achievement.
