New Delhi: He was just 13 years old when he fell in love with the Beautiful Game. There were ample reasons for that. At that time, a plethora of star footballers had made it big from ‘God’s Own Country.’ There was the late VP Sathyan, the mercurial I M Vijayan, the omnipresent Pappchan and the talented Jo Paul Ancheri who had already made it big. Born in Ooty, Sabeeth watched them in front of his eyes and dreamt of staying true to tradition.

“I was studying in 8th standard at Government Secondary School, Ooty, when the sport first appealed to me. I watched my father (C. Sathyan) play. He was a player with Tamil Nadu Police. He was the main source of motivation,” says Sabeeth who is currently a part of the Pailan Arrows participating in the I-League.

Sabeeth, often touted as the next big thing from Kerala first caught the eye when he played for the India U-19 National Team.  Ask him about his future and the 21-year old striker will tell you that his dream stays to play in England. But before doing that he wants to cement his place in the Indian Senior team. “I need to score goals. I need to score regularly,” he adds.

The Liverpool fan stays a die-hard fan of French striker Thierry Henry. But Bhaichung Bhutia inspires him more. “Bhaichung has been a role model for the present generation. He was deadly in the box,” he comments.

“But I don’t want to emulate anyone. I like to be myself. I just want to score goals and be remembered as someone who played for the country and played a part in taking Indian football to the next level.”

By Upender Singh