A giant statue of football superstar Lionel Messi was taken down in India on Monday after it was spotted swaying dangerously in the wind, authorities said.
Hydraulic cranes and ropes were used to dismantle the 21-metre (70-foot) sculpture in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, before it was taken away on an open-top flatbed truck, AFP journalists saw.
"The statue was removed on Monday afternoon after locals complained it was swaying in the wind," state lawmaker Sharadwat Mukherjee told AFP.
Mukherjee said the statue would be kept in a government warehouse while authorities decide on a new location.
The gold-coloured statue, depicting the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami star lifting the World Cup trophy, was unveiled in December during Messi's much-publicised GOAT tour of India.
Messi will captain Argentina at the upcoming World Cup, to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The statue drew scrutiny as political power shifted in West Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept into office last month after defeating the opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The statue was reportedly designed under the patronage of former chief minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, and was criticised by the new BJP sports minister Nisith Pramanik as "unsightly".
India, a nation of 1.4 billion people, is a cricket powerhouse but has long struggled on the international football stage, and is 142nd in the FIFA rankings.
Football, however, is the country's second-favourite sport, according to recent research by data company Nielsen.
str-sai/abh/pbt
This week will bring a fresh batch of data on the current state of the job market, from April’s job openings and layoffs report on Tuesday to May’s closely watched payroll and unemployment report on Friday.
Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka will face off in the Fourth Round of the women's singles tournament at the French Open. Here's how to watch live.
Amazon announces dates for its annual Prime Day summer savings event.
HPE stock was poised to open sharply higher on Tuesday after a blowout quarter for the maker of servers and networking products.
Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud after prosecutors said he defrauded investors out of nearly $250 million.
Tiafoe became the latest ranked player eliminated when Arnaldi came back to win the dramatic, 5-hour match.
Oklahoma City's long offseason will require some deep soul-searching.
The Eagles have been retooling their offense in anticipation of trading Brown.
OBJ is back with the team that originally drafted him.
A.J. Brown is on the move.
Leave a Reply