The first two days of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school under-16 Ahmed Sailor Hockey tournament at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium have produced a goal fest, but even as players of the winning teams rejoice, the organisers and coaches are not a happy lot.
Yesterday, Children’s Academy (Malad) thrashed newcomers Ryan International (Chembur) 28-0, while on Monday, Don Bosco (Matunga) thumped St Joseph’s (Malad) 21-0 and St Stanislaus (Bandra) hammered St Theresa’s (Bandra) 10-0.u00a0
Goal-mouth action from the Don Bosco vs St Andrew’s match. Pic/Sameer Markande
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A concerned MSSA hockey secretary Sarah Alphonso felt such lop-sided results will hurt the morale of the losing team’s players leading to a situation where some might eventually lose interest in the national game.
Though not much can be done about this now, as the tournament is already underway, MSSA plans to bring about some changes to the format next year. “Losing by a 28-goal margin can shatter the morale of any team.
In such a situation, even if this team is tied on points with another team, they don’t stand a chance of qualifying for the next stage given the huge goal difference.
Sarah Alphonso
So, from next year we plan to do away with the goal difference rule. If two teams are tied, they will have to play a tie-breaker encounter among themselves to decide who goes through,” Alphonso told MiD DAY.
Children’s Academy coach Marzban Patel sympathised with the Chembur school. “I am happy that my team won today, but I feel very sorry for Ryan International.
Such results will hurt their confidence, but at the same time, I cannot stop my boys from scoring,” said Patel, who just like Don Bosco (Matunga) on Monday, had his team’s goalkeeper replaced with another player to ensure more goals can be scored.
Meanwhile, Ryan International’s coach Shams Chand admitted his team was undergoing a learning phase and hoped they would work harder and fare better as the tournament progresses. “Our students have been playing hockey for only a year, so they lack experience. I am sure we will improve with time and produce a better result next time.”
Rresults: B-16: Childrens Academy 28 (Milon Naghela 2, Darshan Gawkar 3, Hamant Fadikar 3, Jay Agarwal 3, Sagar Dihora 2, Rohit Gaikwad 1, Yash Pithwa 3, Maitreya Bapat 4, Sameer Dihora 3, Jay Parmar 4) bt Ryan International 0; Our Lady of Dolours 2 (Batala Bhim 2) bt St Stanislaus HS 1 (Eli Rodrigues); Don Bosco 4 (Marc D’Souza 2, Aradhya Deolekar, Pierre Noronha) bt St Andrew’s, Bandra 0; St Paul’s 2 (Tejas Kolhatkar, Sahil Singh) bt St Theresa High School 0.u00a0
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