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Played 3, walkover 3: The story of Navy Children School

Colaba school gives precedence to school exams over MSSA U-16 matches as exam dates clash with schedule

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Campion School’s Joshua Machado (in red) vies for the ball against a Christ Chruch player at Azad Maidan on Monday
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When it comes to their students, it's studies that takes precedence over games for Navy Children School (Colaba).

As their first-term examinations clash with the MSSA U-16 Div I dates, they gave their second straight walkover, this time to Bombay Scottish 'A' (Mahim), presenting the opponents with three easy points and a goal difference of plus-three on Monday without a ball being kicked.

As the date of their last examination is August 7, the Colaba side will give their final fixture against St Stanislaus (Bandra) on Wednesday (Aug 5) a miss as well, taking their total number of withdrawals to three (they also missed the July 28 match against Campion School, Cooperage).

Despite having played just half of their group games, sports coach Vijayan said the school came up with the best solution for themselves as well as the kids. "Our exams started on July 30 and will end on August 7. Since it's the U-16 kids we are talking about, let's not forget that most of them will be in Classes 9 and 10. There were a certain number of games that did not clash with their examination timetable and we were happy to see them play," he said.

What makes Navy Children's stance more relaxed is the fact that they won't be relegated from the first division. With four points in their three games played (one win, one draw, one loss), they sit one spot above Christ Church (Byculla) in Group B.

"Our campaign is over in the U-16 category. You'll see us in the other age categories. We don't stop our kids from playing. But not at the cost of exams," said Vijayan.

The MSSA, on the other side, has asked for the Colaba school for a written explanation. "The reason for this is simple. Navy did win one game and draw one, so we might see a protest from those two schools – Christ Church and Jamnabai Narsee – in the near future asking us how they played those games. We just want to play fair, which is why we always award the other team with the full three points. It's not fair, for example, to see a side come all the way from Borivli only to see their opponents not turning up. Playing those three games again is out of the question. We already have our semifinal and final dates lined up," said Sebastian Fernandes, general secretary of the MSSA.

Stopwatch: Bombay Scottish 'A' (Mahim) bt Navy Children School (School) (w/o), Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) 1 (A Saigal) bt St Stanislaus (Bandra) 0, Don Bosco (Matunga) 3 (C Miller, E D'Cruz, S Sail) bt St Mary's ICSE (Mazgaon) 0, Swami Vivekanand (Kandivli) 0 drew with St Dominic Savio (Andheri) 0, Campion School 'A' (Cooperage) (2) (A Ahuja, M Fozdar) bt Christ Church (Byculla) 0, St Mary's SSC (Mazgaon) 2 (B Maknojia, R D'Souza) bt Hiranandani found. School (Powai) 0

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