‘Courage to take that decision makes you a winner’: Sandesh Jhingan says ‘no regrets’ on move to Croatia

Sandesh Jhingan’s ambitious move to Croatia’s top-tier club HNK Sibenik was not fruitful as the India defender or his fans would have anticipated it to be. Two days after landing in the country the 28-year-old was injured, the first of the many setbacks, and barely after four months he drew curtains on his Croatian sojourn and reunited with his former club ATK Mohun Bagan.

Jhingan, arguably the country’s best central defender, however, has “no regrets” and instead chooses to draw inspiration from the move, which he terms as “stepping out of the comfort zone.”

“It was okay, everything in life is an experience. When I decided to go there I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and I was totally out of my comfort zone so I knew where I was heading. The coach, I spoke to him about how I can learn from the Croatians as they play and help the team, it was productive. I got injured on the second or third day, that was unexpected.” 

“But I have no regrets about how it went there because I had given everything. Many times no matter how hard you work, no matter how big your plans are, if it’s not gonna happen, it’s not gonna happen,” Jhingan told Hindustan Times in a zoom interview arranged by Adidas, whom he has signed a new sponsorship partnership with.

The 28-year-old defender, however, remains unfazed about criticism, if any, regarding his move, stating “the courage to step up and take that decision makes you a winner in a lot of ways instead of not trying and talking about it.”

‘I’m happy to be back’

The center-back is currently training with ATK and Jhingan is grateful to the club for the immense faith they’ve shown in him.

“I’m happy to be back. When there was a change in management and the coach left in Sibenik, I decided with my family that I think I should come back now to fix this injury. I wanted to start playing quickly because we had important national games coming up. ATK Mohun Bagan were very supportive even after the ACL,” said India’s number 5.

ATK, at the moment, are placed fifth on the points table with 20 points from 12 matches. The teams above them are Hyderabad FC, the leaders, followed by Kerala Blasters, Bengaluru FC, and Jamshedpur FC and the five are currently in a neck-to-neck tussle with the difference being very minimal.

As the tournament now moves to it’s business end, Jhingan said: “I think it’s very tight, all teams are looking very competitive this year, which is very great for Indian football. Our (ATK Mohun Bagan) target of course is to win the league and the cup, so we’re working hard about it.”

Jhingan also spoke about his new partnership with popular sporting brand Adidas, who he believes share a common vision to lift Indian football.

“We hold the same vision, to improve Indian football. To take it to a higher level Adidas has been doing it for a long time, especially what they did in Kashmir as well. That was pretty good with Real Kashmir. We have a common vision,” he said.

Jhingan, who initially started playing the sport with a tennis ball back in Sector 22, Chandigarh, hails his brother Saurabh as one of his icons. He was named India’s footballer of the year last year and had also bagged the Emerging Player of the League in the inaugural season of the Indian Super League (ISL).