King Khan to kick-start football tourney in Pune today

After cricket, is Shah Rukh Khan turning his attention to football?

Khan, who recently won the bid for the Knight Riders — the Indian Premier League team from Kolkata — has accepted an invitation to kick-off the fifth edition of the Abhijit Kadam memorial football cup on Wednesday in Pune.

This is not the first time Shah Rukh will be associated with football. His love for the game began early when he was the captain of his school football team, says Vishwajeet Kadam, the managing trustee of the foundation.

In fact, in an interview after having won the bid for the IPL team, Shah Rukh said he was willing to invest in football and hockey in the future.

“We just hope that his presence will be able to create a hockey-like sensation for football too,” said Vishwajeet, son of Maharashtra minister Patangrao Kadam.

Referring to how Chak De India “changed the fortunes” of hockey, Vishwajeet said: “Imagine, SRK playing soccer now or buying a football club.”

Vishwajeet told DNA that he would “put across the idea”, explaining that it required around Rs5 crore.

Bollywood stars Sohail Khan, Fardeen Khan , Ritesh Deshmukh, Urmila Matondkar, Vivek Oberoi , Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar , and Mahima Choudhary are among those to have made an appearance at the previous editions of the tournament.

Vishwajeet said he sent a letter to Shah Rukh in January, inviting him to be the chief guest at the event. “It was almost after a month that I got a call from his office saying that SRK would be calling up. And he actually called up at 3 in the morning to confirm his presence,” Vishwajeet added.