Centre back sets his sights on a hat-trick of titles
Nirmal Chettri feels that India have got what it takes to successfully defend the South Asian Football Federation Championships for the third consecutive time.
The Championships take place in Nepal, In Group A India will take on Pakistan in their first group game, followed by matches against the hosts and Bangladesh.
Speaking to Goal.com Chettri said: ” We are looking forward to playing in it and winning. I have already won two SAFF championships (2009 and 2011) and I hope God will help us win this too.”
Group B consists of The Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bhutan as well as Afghanistan who India beat 4-0 in the SAFF Final two years ago.
The Men in Blue took a clean sweep of the awards in the 2011 tournament, with striker Sunil Chetri gaining the player of the tournament and Golden Boot awards, the team also scooped the fair play award.
Watch the highlights of the 2011 Semi-Final victory over the Maldives below