Baichung Bhutia - Personal Life

Personal Life

As his surname suggests, Bhutia comes from a buddhist, Bhutia background, although he is, by conviction, not religious. The name "Baichung" literally means "little brother". He married his longtime girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis, a hotel professional, on 30 December 2004 in his native village of Tinkitam in South Sikkim. His wife Madhuri gave birth to twins on 8 April 2010. The first one is a girl and the other is a boy. They were born in a private nursing home in Kolkata. His fictional hero is Howard Roark, a character from Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead, and he has a tattoo of a footballer on his arm. The Sikkimese government has built a stadium, the Baichung Stadium in Namchi, the district headquarters, in honour of Bhutia. He is one of the most popular figures in the state and is considered as a role model to many Sikkimese as well to people from other states of India. On 23 January 2008, Bhutia was nominated for the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his contribution to Indian football. Three days later on 26 January, India's Republic Day, he was chosen for the Padma Shri along with national swimming champion Bula Choudhury.

He played in the Goal 4 Africa match held in the Allianz Arena, Munich, on 12 July 2008, for the Edu team, led by Clarence Seedorf, and scored twice. In 2009, Bhutia started a foundation called the "Indian Sports Foundation" to help footballers overcome serious injuries. He is also the president of the Football Players’ Association of India (FPAI), an organisation that promises "fair treatment" of Indian footballers by dealing with financial aspects such as pension plans. He formed FPAI after seeing the Professional Footballers' Association in England.

He signed an endorsement deal with Adidas India Marketing Pvt. Ltd in November 2003. Currently he is endorsing Nike India. After completing the deal to become the brand's ambassador for India, Bhutia said "I am confident that Nike will help elevate the sport in the country."

In 2008, Bhutia was solicited to run with the Olympic torch in India, but he refused to carry the torch to show support for the Tibetan independence movement. "I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I'm against violence but I thought I should stand by the Tibetan people in their fight," Bhutia said. He was the first Indian sportsman to refuse to carry the Olympic torch. His actions have won him little praise from his colleagues in India however, who criticised him for mixing sports with politics.

In 2011, Bhutia was caught in the Sikkim earthquake. Although he was not injured, his United Sikkim offices were completely destroyed. In the aftermath, he joined with several Bollywood actors like Neha Dhupia and Rahul Bose to raise money for earthquake victims.