Shahdol:

PM Modi, who talked to Fridman in the interactive podcast for over three hours, recalled his visit to Vicharpur village in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district. Modi said that during his visit to Shahdol district in July 2023, he came to know about the village where the residents share an intense love for football lending the sobriquet 'Mini Brazil' to the village.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who discussed various topics in his latest podcast with US podcaster and MIT researcher, Lex Fridman, recalled his much cherished visit to the 'Mini Brazil' village in Madhya Pradesh.

PM Modi Highlights 'Mini Brazil' Village In US Podcast :

Talking in detail about Shahdol's 'Mini Brazil' village with podcaster Fridman, PM Modi said, "We have a state in Madhya Pradesh, in the central part of India. There is a district called Shahdol, where there is a very big tribal belt, where a lot of tribal people live. There are self-help groups of tribal women, I was talking to them. I like talking to them. There I saw that around 70 to 80 young people, small children, all were wearing sports dress. I went to them and asked where they were from to which everyone replied 'we are from 'Mini Brazil'”.

Why Is Vicharpur Called 'Mini Brazil'?

“They told me that when there is an individual match in the village, 20 to 25 thousand spectators come from the surrounding villages, so I consider this a good sign for the football craze that is increasing in India these days. It also creates team spirit,” PM Modi said of the village.

In his podcast, the PM said that he asked the football players why their village was called 'Mini Brazil' to which they said almost four generations of every family had been playing football and that the village had produced around 80 national players.

Craze For Football :

Vicharpur village adjacent to Shahdol district headquarters, is a tribal dominated village where locals have a great craze for football. Be it children, adults, elderly or boys and girls, everyone has a passion for playing the game. Be it winter or rain, you will always find children playing football at the village.

Anil Singh Gond, a resident of Vicharpur and a player who has himself played for the Nationals, said that people have been playing football in Vicharpur for many generations, and they have a great craze for football.

About one and a half years ago, the Sports Authority Of India (SAI) Khelo India Center for football was also opened in Vicharpur. Lakshmi Sahis, a football player from Vicharpur who has played 9 Nationals, has been made the coach of the center, who continuously imparts training to the players. Lakshmi said that there are 20 boys and as many girls enrolled in the center.

“This is the reason that you will find national football players in every second house of this village. The best thing is that here more girls have played Nationals than boys. There are some girls who have played 8 to 9 national games in football alone.''

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