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Schumi dazzles villagers with soccer skills
Formula One star Michael Schumacher dazzled rural Malaysian villagers with soccer skills during a holiday ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Formula One star Michael Schumacher dazzled rural Malaysian villagers with skills in a low-tech sport, soccer, during a holiday ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, a news report said on Tuesday.
The seven-time world champion was vacationing in the northeastern state of Terengganu when he arrived at a village soccer field near Dungun town Wednesday riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle accompanied by locals playing "kompang", a traditional Malay hand-held drum.
Playing on a team with resort hotel workers, Schumacher scored one goal and helped set up another to defeat a village youth team, to the delight of more than 1,000 spectators, the New Straits Times reported.
He signed autographs before being whisked away by a security team. Reporters were not allowed to speak with him, and state government officials did not want to reveal where the ace Ferrari driver was staying, the newspaper said.
A villager, Zubir Mamat, 36, said he thought Schumacher was "a very shy person."
"We often see him cycling in the evening, but he never speaks to or smiles at us," Zubir was quoted as saying.
The Malaysian Grand Prix race will take place March 18-20 at the Sepang race circuit, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur. Schumacher won the Malaysian leg of the race in the 2004 season.
