Meet Ali Turganbekov, the boy with no legs who warmed Ronaldo’s heart and dreams of being Paralympics champion
- The 12-year-old has also played football with Lionel Messi and UFC’s Khabib as he works his way towards swimming competitively
- Social media star Turganbekov thanks his family and wants to inspire others to ‘not be ashamed of being different’
There are a million reasons 12-year-old Ali Turganbekov is right to label himself as a “unique optimist”. The boy from Nur Sultan – the capital of Kazakhstan – was born without legs in a country that frowned upon such impediments. And that is putting it lightly.
Turganbekov, who works every day to fulfil his goal of becoming a Paralympics gold medallist in swimming, has become somewhat of an inspiration for elite athletes around the world.
He has met and performed keepy-uppies with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Andriy Shevchenko and the legendary Diego Maradona, to name a few.
“I started playing football at the age of eight. I practise heading the ball a lot. In the future, I want to become a freestyle footballer and an Olympic swimming champion,” Turganbekov said, fresh from meeting 2018 World Cup MVP and Balon d’Or winner Luka Modric at Real Madrid’s training ground.
Often called the “Kazakh Vujicic” by local media – a comparison with Australian motivational speaker Nick Vujicic who was born without arms and legs – Turganbekov's highlight so far was presenting the Uefa Super Cup to Liverpool on live television last August. Captain Jordan Henderson even made sure he had a chance to lift the trophy himself.