Bolly stars pitch in for football match

PUNE: Bollywood glitterati played with gusto in a charity football event to raise funds for cancer patients on Tuesday.

Several actors including Salman Khan, his brother Sohail Khan, comedian and Member of Parliament Govinda and newcomer Ranbir Kapoor donned dark blue football jerseys to showcase their football skills against a Pune XI in a tournament organised by the 'Abhijit Kadam Memorial Foundation' to raise funds for cancer patients.

Cheers rent the air as the actors manoeuvered the ball across the field in an exciting match.

"I am not concerned with who and how many goals are scored. My focus is on the ultimate purpose of the game for a social cause and by the grace of God, it will benefit the needy," said Govinda.

By the first half, the match tally was 3-3.

"Six goals have been scored in the first half, three from their side and three from our side and the goals were beautiful," said Salman Khan. The actors won the match with the scoreline reading 9-5.

Action-hero Suniel Shetty, who was present at the event but did not play because of a bad knee said, "This is for charity and a great cause, so, it's a great reason to be here."

Cancer is a global challenge, leading to casualties all around the world. Worldwide, approximately 11 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year and around seven million people die of the dreaded disease.

Common forms of cancer afflicting people are lung cancer, throat cancer and blood cancer, while breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women.

Some of the major reasons for cancer are the intake of tobacco, pan masala, alcohol along with environment pollution and a sedentary life style etc. An estimated 700,000 new cancer cases are reported in India annually and over 350,000 people die of it every year.