Seven-year-old Tasbiha beats taller opposition to clinch her first MSSA inter-school athletics gold
Tasbiha Shaikh of St Anthony’s (Chembur) proved yesterday that big wonders indeed come in small packages. The seven-year-old won her first gold medal in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association-Mumbai Indians inter-school U-8 50m event, defeating opponents much taller and stronger than her at the Goregaon Sports Club.
St Anthony’s Tasbiha Shaikh (left) wins gold in the MSSA inter-schoolu00a0U-8 50m race at the Goregaon Sports Club yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
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Tasbiha clocked 8.4u00a0seconds to win first place. Siya Godhani of Children’s Academy (Ashok Nagar) finished second clocking 8.5 seconds while Akshita Sajeev of St Anthony’s (Chembur) finished third with a timing of 8.8 seconds.
Bolstered by a fine show here, Tasbiha is now eyeing glory in today’s U-8 100m event and 4x50m relay. “I am really happy that I won my first gold medal in MSSA. My mother Nuzhat introduced me to running last year. And her presence today at the ground gave me a lot of confidence,” said the Class II student.
Nuzhat meanwhile said that she discovered her daughter’s running potential only by chance.
“I used to get very tired running behind her all the time. That’s when I realised that she’s quite fast for her age and got in touch with Prasanan sir (athletics coach). I’m glad her hardwork is paying off,” Nuzhat told MiD DAY.u00a0