Ali to mentor young football enthusiasts from Lucknow
Actor Ali Fazal is a sports enthusiast and has been playing basketball and football since his school and college days. There was a time when Ali hoped to represent India as a basketball player but destiny brought him to tinsel town and the rest is history. Besides playing basketball, Ali loves watching football and plays whenever he has some free time on his hands. And now, Ali is now all set to mentor young football enthusiasts from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, while shooting for his current film, Prasthaanam.
A source close to the actor reveals, “A few years ago, Ali mentored a team of football players from Shillong, Meghalaya, as their brand ambassador. While shooting for one of his films in Goa, Ali initiated the idea to fly the boys from Shillong football club to Goa and mentor them side by side while shooting for his film. Lucknow being his hometown holds an important place in his heart and Ali considers it his responsibility to give back in some way or another. Ali took the onus to represent the young lads as their mentor while shooting for his film in Lucknow. Even after the completion of his film, Ali will continue mentoring these talented kids till the time their potential is recognised by professional football clubs of India.”
Talking about it, Ali says, “When I worked with the amazing team at Shillong and saw the hard work the kids were putting in, it reminded me of my training when I was an athlete during my college days. When I met these kids in Lucknow while I was shooting there, I was really impressed with their talent and I feel with the right mentoring they can do a lot in the sport. They don’t even have proper fields at this p government sanctions for multipurpose play fields in the city. So the idea is to, apart from encouraging them, also mentor them by providing them the right guidance and technical support. I will be tying up with various sponsors’ as well so push this initiative as game equipment needs to be bought.”