City breathes football, excellent facilities for the game and players
Jamshedpur, July 29: Indian football legend and Arjuna Awardee Oinam Bembem Devi visited Jamshedpur for the historic inaugural JSA Women�s league final. The Durga of Indian Football debuted for India at the age of 15 years and had a stellar 20 year football career in which she was the Indian captain for 15 years.
Talking about her experience in Jamshedpur, Bembem Devi said, �The city breathes football. I have not seen such good facilities ever. From the ground to the dressing rooms at JRD Tata Sports Complex and also the other facilities within the city are absolutely amazing. Even the facilities for other sports like Archery are fantastic. It’s a great set up by Tata Steel and after the inaugural JSA Women’s League, I would like to ask Tata Steel to take more steps and help women’s football grow even further.�
�It is worth mentioning that Bembem Devi began her career at a club in Imphal, from where she went on to represent Manipur U13 and rose up the ranks within a few seasons to represent the state�s senior team. The Imphal-born midfielder was first selected to play for India in the year 1995 from which period she went on to gain 85 caps for the country scoring 32 goals in the process.
She played her last match for India in the South Asian Games 2016, where she helped India clinch gold by beating Nepal in the final.�After her retirement, Devi went on to manage teams starting with Eastern Sporting Union in 2017. Currently she is the Assistant Coach of the India U17 women�s team and managing Manipur Police Sports Club.�One of the initiatives Devi took after her retirement was to promote women�s football across the India.
