India U18 coach Floyd Pinto credits Bhubaneswar's 'world-class' facilities for recent success
India U18 coach Floyd Pinto has credited the infrastructure and facilities in Bhubaneswar as one of the primary reasons for their recent success in the international stage. The Indian colts are fresh from their emphatic 2019 SAFF U18 Championship win over Bangladesh in Kathmandu last week.
Floyd Pinto has done a laudable job with the youngsters so far, having guided them to a first ever SAFF U18 Championship triumph with a 1-0 win over Bangladesh in the summit clash. The coach emphasized the fact that the hard work put in by the players resulted in the win. He also mentioned that the facilities provided to them in Bhubaneswar also played a vital part.
“Success stories do not come overnight. The hard work put in over the last few months has helped us surely. But most importantly, it’s the place and the infra and the facilities which we tend to overlook. And in Bhubaneswar, we have been very lucky on that aspect,” said Floyd Pinto as reported by aiff.com
The Indian U18 team is based out of Bhubaneswar and the players are kept in the international hostel at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology. They get top-class facilities like swimming pools, gyms and tennis courts including four meals a day as per requirements. Floyd opined that having good facilities helps the players to improve individually as well as a team.
“There’s no excuse for not giving your best. They get the best of facilities in Odisha. It’s world class. Not every athlete is lucky enough to have such facilities available. This in itself is motivation enough for them to improve themselves, both as individuals and as a team,” added Floyd.