SRINAGAR: A 22-year-old trick shot footballer has scripted history after he became the first Kashmiri to be featured by Chelsea Football Club on its official Facebook page.
“Safe to say, this Kashmiri Blue has got the skills to pay the bills! Happy New year,” Chelsea FC wrote on Facebook while posting Huzaif’s video.
Huzaif Ajaz Shah, an MBBS student in Bangladesh, is among the selected few who have got recognition from Chelsea FC.
“Alhamdulillah I have been featured on Chelsea Football Club this morning but the content is limited to India. Surely this is a dream come true for me. Four years back I couldn’t have imagined myself on a Chelsea Football Club Page and that too for a minute. I want to thank all those who were with me from the beginning,” he said.
After watching his videos on social media, Chelsea FC approached Huzaif recently and asked him to upload something on New Year. And as they say, the rest is history.
“I was associated with a fan club of Chelsea India for quite some time. They had said they wanted to come to Kashmir, but could not. They approached me recently and asked me to put up a video on New Year. I uploaded a video which they featured on their official page,” he told The Kashmir Monitor.
Coming from a well-to-do family, Huzaif’s father is a doctor and his mother is a teacher. Born and brought up in Srinagar, he is currently pursuing MBBS in Bangladesh.
“I love football, but I never played for any club. I always played for my class. Four years before while I was doing target practicing, I realized I was hitting the right spots. I continued for three to four months. That is when I realized that these are trick shots,” he said.
Since then, he has uploaded around 300 videos on different social media platforms. “I featured on `433 page’ twice. Noted footballers are part of this page. I also featured on `sports bible’. Two years back, I also featured on a History TV show. In the `CR7′ (Cristiano Ronaldo) challenge, I was the fourth runner up. It is an online completion. People have to send their entries and those with highest votes are declared winners,” he said.
A die-hard fan of Eden Hazard, he wants to visit Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea play. “Most of my trick shots are with a tennis ball. Some of these shots have become hit on social media. I want to continue my passion. If luck supports, I will visit Stamford Bridge one day,” he said.
