Bengaluru FC (BFC) club ambassador Rahul Dravid thrilled onlookers and club footballers by playing a friendly game of football, at the ‘Boost Play the Pros’ event in Bangalore Football Stadium here on Saturday.
Dravid and club skipper Sunil Chhetri handed year-long scholarships to two winners of a city-wide talent identification program – Guru Kiran and N. Monica.
Aside from taking on Chhetri and his mates in a friendly match, Dravid – who donned the role of goalkeeper - interacted with around 200 young enthusiasts, handing them pointers on fitness and mental toughness in sport.
“It was great to spend time with the kids and Dravid. (BFC first-team goalkeeper) Gurpreet Sandhu was thrilled that Dravid asked him for his goalkeeping gloves. Dravid asked Gurpreet for a photo as well. A lot of us watched a lot of cricket when we were young, when Dravid was at
his peak. He means a lot to us,” Chhetri said.
The striker was happy to score a goal against Dravid’s side. “That is going up on my bio,” Chhetri said.
Dravid described Chhetri and his BFC mates as the real superstars. “Guys like Sunil are the real superstars. I’ve watched a couple of BFC matches, and it is wonderful to see how the club connects with the city and engages the fans,” Dravid said, adding, “When a kid sees young guys like Rahul (Bheke) and Udanta (Singh) do well for BFC, they feel that there is a route they can take in order to make football a career. It is quite similar to cricket in the 1970’s.”
The former India batsman added that he dabbled in football many years ago. “I played football in school (St. Joseph’s BHS). Everyone plays football in school. But, once I was 14-15, cricket took over. Over the years, I’ve always followed FIFA World Cup and Champions League," Dravid said.
Comments
SHARE