{"id":9734,"date":"2009-07-14T16:08:47","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T16:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2009\/07\/14\/indian-star-backs-leicesters-world-cup-host-campaign\/"},"modified":"2009-07-14T16:08:47","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T16:08:47","slug":"indian-star-backs-leicesters-world-cup-host-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2009\/07\/14\/indian-star-backs-leicesters-world-cup-host-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian star backs Leicester\u2019s World Cup host campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018Leicester is like second home\u2019, says cricket star Munaf Patel<\/h3>\n
A WORLD-CLASS cricketer has given his backing to Leicester\u2019s bid to be a host city for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Bowler Munaf Patel, who plays for the Indian national team and the Rajasthan Royals, got behind the bid on a recent visit to Leicester. <\/div>\n

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“I’ve got friends and family in Leicester,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt’s like a second home to me, so I try to visit when I can \u2013 and that\u2019s why I would love to see the World Cup here. It would be great for the city \u2013 and for the people who come here to watch the games.”<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Munaf Patel joins a growing list of celebrities who have come forward to give their support to Leicester\u2019s bid.<\/div>\n

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Footballing legends Gary Lineker, Steve Walsh, Muzzy Izzet, Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton have all backed the bid, as well as snooker player Willie Thorne, rugby\u2019s Jordan Crane, basketball star LaTaryl Williams and quintuple Olympic gold medallist rower Sir Steve Redgrave.<\/div>\n

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As well as the celebrities, more than 1,300 people have joined a Facebook group supporting Leicester\u2019s bid \u2013 a group that\u2019s believed to be the biggest fan group for any of the applicant host cities.<\/div>\n

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Leader of Leicester City Council, Cllr Ross Willmott, said: \u201cWe are convinced Leicester will make a great host city.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cOur facilities, the ease of access, our diverse population, our record as a great sporting city and the huge enthusiasm of our people for sporting success all give us a real chance of helping England win the bid for 2018.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Leicester is one of 15 cities bidding to become a host city, should England host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.<\/div>\n

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It will hear in December, if the city\u2019s bid has been successful.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/div>\n

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More information about Leicester\u2019s bid, and a link to the voting page on the England 2018 Bid website, is available at <\/strong>www.backleicestersbid.com<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Leicester is like second home\u2019, says cricket star Munaf Patel A WORLD-CLASS cricketer has given his backing to Leicester\u2019s bid to be a host city for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Bowler Munaf Patel, who plays for the Indian national team and the Rajasthan Royals, got behind the bid on a recent visit to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}