Despite injuring his elbow, abdomen in a fall, skipper plays crucial role in St Xavier's earning promotion to Division II
Santosh Suthar
Had it not been for St Xavier’s (Borivli) skipper Santosh Suthar's sheer grit yesterday, his team could well have been languishing in Div-III of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association’s (MSSA) U-16 football tournament next season too.
St Xavier’s skipper Santosh Suthar (on the ground) after a fall during the MSSA U-16 Div-III quarter-final against RN Podar CBSE (Santacruz) at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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Santosh had an awkward fall in the second half of the Div-III quarterfinal encounter against RN Podar CBSE school (Santacruz) at Azad Maidan yesterday. He hurt his elbow and abdomen in the bargain but insisted on not leaving the field for treatment, In fact, he went on to provide both assists as team rallied to a 2-1 win over RN Podar to enter the semi-finals of the competition. All semi-finalists earn a promotion to Div-II next season.
“I fell and hurt myself badly. I had difficulties running thereafter but I could bear the pain, so carried on. I’m glad we won and earned a promotion to Div-II,” Santosh said.
At half-time, St Xavier’s seemed to be struggling RN Podar’s opened the scoring through Aryan Yadav. But in the second session, a rejuvenated St Xavier’s outfit began to perform better. Aniket Gurbani grabbed the equaliser in the 32nd minute via Santosh’s corner. St Xavier’s then took the lead in the 45th minute when another corner by skipper Santosh found Runal Patel, who made it 2-1.
St Xavier’s coach Xavier Pinto admitted he was worried about his captain immediately after the fall. “He is the pillar of our team. I was worried when he fell, but when he signalled that he could carry on, I decided against taking him off. It’s great to be promoted,” Pinto said.
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