The Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) yesterday awarded the U-14 Giles Shield semi-final to Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) after their opponents, Swami Vivekanand International (Borivli), did not turn up for the final day of the two-day encounter
Representation pic
The Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) yesterday awarded the U-14 Giles Shield semi-final to Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) after their opponents, Swami Vivekanand International (Borivli), did not turn up for the final day of the two-day encounter at the Police Gymkhana in Marine Lines. The Borivli team refused to take the risk of traveling to the other end of the city on a day when violent protests by Dalits saw road and rail services disrupted.
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SVIS coach Dinesh Lad expressed disappointment over MSSA'S decision to continue the match despite the situation around the city being tense the previous day itself. Safety, priority for SVIS "It was very risky for me to take these young boys for the match given the riot-like situation. Our school management declared a holiday and our director Yogesh Patel insisted that the players' safety was priority so they should not travel," Lad told mid-day yesterday. The Bandra outfit however reached the ground on schedule, at 8.30 am. The umpires waited for SVIS till the lunch break and thereafter decided declared Rizvi as the winners.
Rizvi make it on time
Rizvi coach Raju Pathak said his players faced no problem while traveling to the ground. "We have players from Borivli, Malad, Kurla and Bhandup. But as the situation was normal in the morning, all the boys came here on time. Most of the players came with their parents," he said. MSSA cricket secretary Nadeem Memon said that he tried his best to make the second day's play possible. "I received a message from Swami Vivekanand in the morning about their inability to travel today and tried to convince them to come. I even thought of postponing the second day's play by a day and requested to Police Gymkhana's manager but they have a fixed schedule, so denied us the extra day," he said.
Lad was furious: "Throughout the day there have been reports of vehicles being damaged due to stone-throwing, trains being halted. If I had to travel with these boys and anything had to go wrong, would MSSA have taken responsibility," he asked. On Tuesday, Rizvi had ended Day One on 352 for three with Mohit Tanwar (211*) and Tejas Chalke (101*) at the crease.
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