Indian parents don’t see sports as profession: SRK

Actor is willing to support any sport in the country.

MUMBAI: Demonstrating true sportsman’s spirit and enthusiasm, superstar Shahrukh Khan backs sports as a profession. He says it should be considered a good job opportunity and that parents must be educated about how games can be a viable career option for their children.

“Parents will always be wary of sports as a profession and I don’t see why they shouldn’t be. But they will have to see that there is a job opportunity here,” he said at the launch of Toyota University Cricket Championship held Thursday.

“I am a big speaker of sports as a commercial success. Parents should know that it can be a salary job. Your kids will be proud of you,” added the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 47-year-old, who is a sports lover, is willing to support every sport in the country.

“My movies have given me the position of a brand ambassador of a certain calibre. I would like to utilise that in whatever way possible for sports,” he said.

“I would like to be the brand ambassador of any sport in the country. I am good at sports. I love sports. I like cricket. Hockey is the best game in the world,” he added.

However, what bothers him is that even today children can’t confidently say that “they want to be a professional sportsman”.

“In the last 25 years, because of the advent of technology, storywriters, etc, a lot of people want to be in media and films. The age of conventional jobs is over,” he said. “But I think we have not reached that stage in our country where children can come up and say I want to make sports my job and be a professional sportsperson.”

Other than cricket, King Khan also wants to encourage football in India.

“We are the only nation who is on the threshold of development and we don’t have a good football team,” he said, adding that most developing nations have it “as it is the cheapest sport”.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2013.              

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