Obama praises US soccer’s Indian-American chief over World Cup win

US President Barack Obama showered praise on US Soccer Federation’s (USSF) Indian-American President Sunil Gulati as he welcomed the US women’s World Cup-winning champions into the White House on Tuesday.

After 16 long years, too many heartbreaks, they flew north to put America back on top of the soccer world and they did it in style,” Obama said.

To begin the ceremony, a 13-year-old girl, Ayla, from Massachusetts, shared a letter she wrote to the President and Mrs Obama towards the end of Canada 2015.

The letter explained her anger after her brother told her that ‘boys are so much better at soccer than girls’, and that she wanted the White House’s help to prove him wrong.

Obama hailed young Ayla’s courage and used her letter to frame his congratulatory remarks to the recent Women’s World Cup champions.