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King Khan’s performance on the screen inspires us to perform on the field: Mali goalie Alkalifa

The Mali under-17 team reveals their peculiar connection with the Bollywood. The footballers from the West African country keep themselves motivated by watching our very own King Khan's movies!

By Sujata Sarkar
The Mali U-17 team

New Delhi, October 12: The Mali team reached the capital from Mumbai two days ago to take part in the on going World Cup, and the young team reveals their peculiar connection with Bollywood. The footballers from the West African country keep themselves motivated by watching King Khan's movies!

Mali goalkeeper Alkalifa, reveals the teams Bollywood connection over a telephonic conversation, "We are simply fanatic about Bollywood movies. We are especially passionate about Shah Rukh Khan's movies. Each footballer in our team has seen King Khan's movies several times. In Mali the football clubs in major cities, including capital Bamako show Bollywood films after their training gets over. This system has been so popular in our country that nowadays the common people also pause their activities for three hours in the evening every Wednesday when the films are being shown on a giant screen."

When asked about the reason, Alkalifa clarified saying, "Actually, around five to six years ago our senior national team spent time watching a Shah Rukh Khan movie and on the next day they won the match. From that day onwards watching Shah Rukh movies has been a prejudice for all our national teams. We watch it before the match. King Khan's performance on the screen inspires us to perform on the field."

Mali defender, Fode Konate, also chipped in, saying, "Our federation vice president is a die-hard Amitabh Bachchan fan. He has not missed a single Bachchan movie yet."

Winning the World Cup by itself is a huge honour, but the Mali under-17 boys have something else to look forward to as well. The Mali boys have been promised a special gift if they can reach the semifinals of the on going edition, and of course it is something the boys are looking forward to. The gift does not consist of any cash. Rather the footballers have been promised that if they can take their team to the last four, then all the entire team will be taken to see both Shah Rukh's home Mannat and Amitabh Bachchan's home in Mumbai.

Story first published: Thursday, October 12, 2017, 13:01 [IST]
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