Abraham looking for India’s soccer hero
FOOTBALL fanatic John Abraham is ready to make India “live the magic” of the 2014 Fifa World Cup.
The actor-producer, who is doing a film based on the sport and has invested in a soccer franchise, believes fever for the game will scale new heights once Indian soccer finds its hero.
“One sporting hero can totally change the fabric of a sport in a country. For example, in tennis it was Sania Mirza, or for badminton a Saina Nehwal and, much before her, Prakash Padukone. I think Indian football requires that one hero. The minute we get that hero, watch football change in this country,” said Abraham, who has been roped in by sports and entertainment channel Sony SIX as the World Cup brand ambassador in India.
Abraham grew up watching Argentine footballer Diego Maradona thanks to his father, who woke him up early in the morning to catch football matches.
He started playing himself, so much so that he now said: “I would have played for India, but I had to make a choice between football and an MBA.” Now, at 41, he is living his childhood passion — in different ways.
Apart from widely promoting the World Cup in India, he has bought the Guwahati franchise of the Indian Super League. And his home production, 1911, to be directed by Shoojit Sircar, will see him play late Indian soccer player Sibdas Bhaduri on the big screen.
“So much of football happening!” he exclaimed. “My production officer and my production partner are won- dering whether this is a production office or a football office.”
Abraham is all for efforts on the part of his celebrity clan to bring fans to any sport, “be it kabaddi, football, badminton, hockey, golf or boxing. I wish to promote so much more.”
As for the World Cup, which gets under way in Brazil on Thursday, Abraham will be living the magic of the games on the television and in a studio, where he will get to analyse matches for the viewers with soc- cer icons such as Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Peter Shilton, Mikael Silvestre, Ellyse Perry and Sunil Chhetri. Who is Abraham backing? “Well, I need to study the teams very carefully, to be honest.
“But if I had to put a little bit of money on three or four teams, I would go with Germany and Argentina, but I wouldn’t rule out Spain and maybe Brazil,” he said after much deliberation.
And who is his all-time favourite?
“No one plays football like the Brazilians do. When they play it, it’s like poetry in motion. Watching Brazilians play would be great,” he said. — Indo-Asian News Service