India to host U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020
New Delhi: India will host the U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020, International Football Federation (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino announced on Friday.
"We are delighted to announce that India has been confirmed as the host of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020," Infantino said after the FIFA Council meeting in Miami, USA,
This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017.
Confirming the development, All India Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das told PTI: "We are thankful to FIFA for giving the right to host the U-17 Women's World Cup. This will raise the profile of women's football in the country.
"We have been giving a lot of emphasis on the development of women's football in the country. So we bid for the U-17 Women's World Cup and now we have got it."
The bidding process for the tournament started last year. France had also expressed interest to host the tournament.
Das said the venues to host the mega event will be decided soon.
"We have four-five venues in mind and we will finalise them soon."
As host country, India automatically qualifies for the 16-team showpiece event. The six continental qualifying tournaments are yet to begin.
Besides the U-17 Women's WC, India had also expressed interest in hosting the U-20 Women's World Cup.
The U-17 women's tournament began in 2008, when New Zealand hosted it. Spain are the current champions and they had beaten Mexico 2-1 in the final in Uruguay last year. The tournament in India will be the seventh edition.
Asian teams are the most successful teams in the tournament, with North Korea (2008 and 2016) having won it twice while Japan (2014) and South Korea (2010) had won it once each.
France (2012) and Spain (2018) are the only non-Asian teams to have won the tournament.
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Baramati plane crash: CID questions VSR Ventures owner
Pune (PTI): The Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department on Thursday questioned V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, which operated the aircraft involved in the Baramati crash that killed deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, a CID officer said.
“The statement of V K Singh is being recorded,” said the CID officer, without disclosing more details about the questioning, which was still underway.
A Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crashed near the Baramati air strip in Pune district on January 28, killing Pawar and four others.
After the plane crash, an accidental death report was registered at the Baramati Taluka police station, and the case was later transferred to the Pune CID. Earlier, the state agency had said that its focus was to ascertain if sabotage or criminal negligence led to the Baramati tragedy.
Days before V K Singh's questioning, the CID had sent a set of questions to VSR Ventures in connection with its investigation into the plane crash, according to a source.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar had alleged on Wednesday that someone was trying to save VSR Ventures, and claimed that a preliminary probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) vindicated the doubts earlier raised by him.
In its 22-page preliminary report on the air tragedy, the AAIB said the visibility at the time of the crash was below the required level. It also flagged fading marks on the runway and the presence of loose gravel on the runway surface.
A few days ago, Ajit Pawar’s son Jay Pawar had shared a purported video on social media alleging that V K Singh's son Rohit Singh was seen dozing off in the chief pilot’s seat during a flight, and demanded his immediate arrest.
He had also demanded that all aircraft of VSR Ventures be grounded till the inquiry into his father’s plane crash is completed.
