Meet fans with mission of watching 50 FIFA WC matches in Qatar

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Om Prakash Mundra and Vipul Patel have an age difference of around 25 years and both come from different countries yet they are the best buddies.

Mundra is a septuagenarian from India while Vipul has seen only 50 monsoon of his life and is a US citizen. He was born and brought up in Tanzania. What may be common between them which has made them the best friend? They share the same passion. Both are sport lovers.

It is their love for soccer particularly and sports in general that brought them so close. Both are ardent sports aficionados and do crazy things to attend the sporting events across the globe.

They met each other in Barbados during the 2007 ICC World Cup. Since they have become very good friends despite all the differences in their age and nationalities.

Ever since, they have been going around the world to watch all the big sporting events be it golf majors, tennis grand slams, FIFA World Cups, ICC World Cups, Olympics, winter games, Paralympics, Copa America and the list is endless.

The 2022 edition is the third consecutive FIFA World Cup for Vipul and fourth altogether while Mundra is attending his sixth. Vipul will complete his 49th match of this edition of the FIFA World Cup when he attends the final between Argentina and France on Sunday.

Vipul flew all the way from USA to watch the World Cup like many other fans. But he had a mission when he set off for Qatar. Vipul wanted to mark his 50th birthday by watching exact number of games.

“I turned 50 recently and wanted to celebrate it in style. Being a sports enthusiast, what could have been a better way to mark the occasion.

“I had made the plans a year in advance. So, I had started booking the tickets as soon as the windows opened for each game.  I did not want to leave anything to chance.

“So, I had applied for each ticket with several different name. In case if it gets rejected by one name, I can get it by the other name. All the accounts were genuine. Like in the name of my sons, brother, friends and wife,” informed Vipul.

“But despite having all fifty tickets, I will be completing only 49 matches as I gave one ticket to my son, who suddenly came to watch one of the quarter-finals,” he said.

“I am super excited as I knew it was the last chance perhaps that anyone could see so many matches in one edition only. Because for he first time in the history of the FIFA, the whole World Cup is being played in one city only. So, commuting and watching two-three games on a single day was feasible.

“When there were four matches being played on one day, I have seen as many as three of them on a few occasions, while watching two were a routine thing. Sometimes, we used to hire a taxi and keep it on waiting to switch between the stadiums,” he said.

Mundra, who is from Orissa and lives in Nagpur, has a very impressive portfolio of attending the sporting events. He has also attended around 30 matches so far in Qatar. He also volunteered in Asian Games, Qatar in 2006.He is an industrialist and has three sons. His romance with sports began with 1984 Asian Games in Delhi. After that there was no looking back and his love for sports grew deeper with the age.

“I love sports and my hobby is to travel. So, it gives me an opportunity to go around the world. I have travelled to over 100 countries,” said the globe tottering fan.

“Sports teach you the philosophy of the life. It teaches to have healthy competition. It teaches you to be patient and disciplined. Since I watched the Asian Games in New Delhi, I fell in love with sports. I love tennis, cricket, football, badminton and hockey the most.

“I have watched 14 ICC Cricket World Cup – both 50-over and T20 combined – six FIFA World Cups, four Olympics, four winter games, one Paralympics games, one Confederation Cup in Brazil, IPL all editions, three Wimbledon, Formula One races, French open and Australian open.

“Not only I have attended all these events but also worked as a volunteer in many of them. Both me and my wife used to go to all these places as she also volunteered with me in many events,” said Mundra.

Mundra was the only Indian fan at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and he also featured in many leading Indian newspaper and magazines like Hindustan Times and India Today for his feat.

“Vipul is like my fourth son and he takes care of me when we are together. Since, I met Vipul, my wife, who used to accompany me on the al the trips, have stopped coming with me as she is rest assured that he is there to look after me,” informed Mundra.

Both Vipul and Mundra are directly coming from Australia after watching the ICC World Cup. After the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar, Vipul will go back to US while Mundra will go to Orissa as he is planning to attend Hockey World Cup, which will be held in India in his native state.