A statue of Cristiano Ronaldo has been unveiled in Calangute, Goa to promote football and inspire more youth in taking up the sport. The weight of the statue is around 410 kgs.
The Manchester United player is immensely popular in the state as Goa is one of the bastions of Portuguese support in India.
"This is for the first time that the statue of Cristiano Ronaldo has come up in India. This is nothing but to inspire our youth. If you want to take football to another level then this is what young boys and girls will look forward to, taking selfies and looking at the statue and getting inspired to play,” Goa minister Michael Lobo told ANI.
Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's statue installed in Panaji, Goa. To inspire youth &take football to next level in the state, country, we came up with this statue. We want our children to become like this legendary footballer, who is a global legend:Goa Minister Michael Lobo(28.12) pic.twitter.com/KthPHc7ox0— ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2021
The statue has been reported to cost around Rs 12 lakh and has been built over a period of three years. It would have been installed much earlier, but for the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the statue has drawn ire from a certain section of the local people. Many people also waved black flags near the site expressing their anger.
“There are so many great footballers from Calangute like Bruno Coutinho and Yolanda D’Souza, who have brought laurels to India by playing football at the international level. Why couldn’t their statues be installed? They are from Calangute. Why the Portuguese footballer’s statue has been installed,” asked Calangute constituency forum president Premanand Divkar.
It must be noted that Goa was once a Portuguese colony and it was on December 19, 1961 that it was annexed by India.