Kerala bizman to build museum in memory of Diego Maradona
A Kerala-based businessman onMonday said a world-class museum will be built in memory ofDiego Maradona,with a gold sculpture of the Argentinefootball legend as the main attraction.
Chairman and Managing Director of Boby ChemmanurInternational Group, Boby Chemmanur, who was instrumental inbringing the soccer staron a visit to Kerala eight years ago,saidthe life-size sculpture will represent The Hand of God,as the Argentine forward described a crucial goal he scored inthe 1986 FIFA World Cup which his team went on to win.
The proposed museum is to come up in Kolkata or insouth India, he told a press conference here.
It will showcase Maradonas professional and personallife, he said.
The museum will blendthe aesthetics of art andtechnology, Boby Chemmanur said.
The upcoming museum on several acres of land will havea gold sculpture of Maradona as its main attraction, he said.
Recalling his “close friendship” with Maradona for adecade, Boby Chemmanur said the relationship began with thefootballer at Dubai in 2011.
Later, Maradona inaugurated a Chemmanur jewelleryshowroom in Dubai.
“I gifted Maradona a miniature gold statue of hisfigure. Accepting it, the soccer star expressed the desire tosee his life-size gold sculpturerelated to The Hand of God,”he said.
“I am extremely happy to be fulfilling that desire ofMaradona,” Boby Chemmanur said.
The Hand of God goal was scored against England inthe quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup.
TheBoby Chemmanur Group, headquartered in Thrissur,had Maradona as its ambassador after the Argentinian signedthe deal in March 2018.
Maradona was in the northern part of the state for twodays in October 2012 to inaugurate a showroom of ChemmannurJewellers in Kannur.
“The museum is my tribute to Maradona. It will be astorehouse of information related to the great player and hisfootball. It will function as a centre for entertainment ofinternational standards,” he said.
The curator of the museum will be artist-writer BonyThomas, a founder-trustee of Kochi Biennale Foundation thatconducts Indias biggest contemporary art festival.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)