Boy with no FEET shows off his football skills - PHOTO

But unlike his teammates, the 13-year-old from Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil, was born without any feet.Now Gabriel - who started playing football when he was eight - has been chosen to showcase his skills at an event in Hong Kong, to promote next month's World Cup in Brazil. The teenager showed off his solo skills at a shopping centre and will also play in a three-a-side match later this week, as part of the run-up to the global tournament. Gabriel was born with a limb deficiency called apodia, which meant his feet did not develop.But the young boy was so determined to walk that he took his first steps when he was around ten months old.Soon, the budding footballer was kicking a ball around, joining the local football team at his school and even winning medals, according to his mother Sandra. Now, Gabriel wears prosthetic limbs most days, but he goes without them during a game. Gabriel's skills were deemed to be so impressive that he also caught the eye of FC Barcelona in 2012 - and was invited along to a training camp to play against abled-bodied footballers.That came following a trial at the football club's training academy in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro.Last year, a TV series followed the story of Gabriel's perseverance and saw him meeting his footballing hero Lionel Messi, the Argentine superstar.In a previous interview, his mother said: 'He started walking before he was one. We would go after him, expecting him to keep falling, but he never fell.'Gabriel's gym teacher Jose Lopes added: 'He is challenging the social norms. When he arrived there [at the Barcelona academy], no-one believed in him.'But he proved to everyone there he can go head to head with any other boy. So much so that he was invited to go to Spain to showcase his talent.'(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az