MELBOURNE: Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who is on a three-day visit to Australia, visited Richmond Football Club on Wednesday and said he would love to see if American football can be introduced in India.
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada is a team sport played by two teams of eleven on the field with unlimited substitutions.
"It'll be wonderful to add one more dimension to our relationship... We'd love to see if we can introduce football (American) in India and get them some exposure. Our partnership does have the soft-power element," Union Minister Piyush Goyal at Richmond Football Club, Melbourne told ANI.
The game of American football is not popular or widely played in the Indian subcontinent if compared to other contemporary sports in the region. The objective of this sport is to score more points than your opponents in the allotted time. To do this, a team must move the ball down the pitch in phases of play before eventually getting the ball into the 'end zone' for a touchdown.
"As part of the historic agreement, we want greater collaboration in the sporting field. We've already discussed what we'll be able to achieve in cricket, looking at training academies. We also talked about yoga," added Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan.
Earlier, the Indian Minister also visited the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where he paid tribute to cricket legend Shane Warne, who recently passed away.
University of Melbourne (Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity). He was accompanied by Tehan and Allan Myers, Chancellor, University of Melbourne, at the Melbourne Law School.
Goyal will later visit the Shiva Vishnu Temple in Melbourne and attend a community event with the Indian diaspora. Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia's 9th largest trading partner.