Just as Bombay Scottish’s Anukta Jain passed the ball from the corner to Sanya Runwal, who successfully managed to put the ball into the nets in the 18th minute, the girls knew they were close to winning their first-ever under-12 final of the MSSA-Nike Annual Inter-School Football Tournament at the Azad Maidan here on Tuesday.
And so they did, defeating defending champions Dhirubhai Ambani 1-0. The joy on the girls’s faces was obvious. However, it was their parents, who took up the role of playing cheerleaders to support their tweens playing under the scorching sun.
This was the second goal for the mid-fielder in the league. And Sanya proudly confessed that she had saved her best for the last. She was busy receiving calls from family and friends and couldn’t curb her excitement over the big win.
The Scottish girls said that Dhirubhai Ambani dominated the first half. So, what was the team’s strategy? “Our coach told us to play tough and tackle the ball properly and not to get scared,” said 11-year-old Sanya.
“The tournament was held late so we had plenty of time to practice,” said Adib Kenkre, coach of Bombay Scottish. Though, the Dhirubhai Ambani girls were upset by the loss, their coach and the family quickly cheered up the girls for ending runners-up.
“I guess we were just unlucky. The girls gave their 100 per cent,” said Chanchal Singh, coach of Dirubhai Ambani.
Bombay Scottish goalkeeper, Sneha Singh played a pivotal role as she had managed to save a quite a few goals. “My coach kept telling me that because of me, we can win this tournament and I just kept repeating this in my mind,” said the 11-year-old.
What makes this victory sweeter for the Bombay Scottish is that in the league, Dhirubhani Ambani had beaten them 2-1.
Results: Girls' U-12 final: Bombay Scottish (Mahim) 1 (S Runwal 1) bt Dhirubhai Ambani (BKC) 0; Third Place: Apostolic Carmel (Bandra) 2 (V Sawant 2) bt Canossa (Andheri) 0; Boys U-10 final St Mary's ICSE (Mazagaon) 4 (B Alphonso 1, A Hirani 1, A Jain 1, I Chainani 1) bt via tie-breaker St Stanislaus (Bandra) 3 (D Veronen 1, A Alvares 1, K Pinto 1) (full time score 0-0); Third place: Campion School (Cooperage) 1 (D Gupta 1) bt The Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) 0
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