Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao cheer son Azad during football match in Bandra

Aamir Khan and wife Kiran Rao cheer for son Azad during the MSSA U-8 five-a-side football final in Bandra yesterday. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Ascend International (BKC) beat Holy Family (Andheri) 5-4 via tie-breaker in the final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised U-8 five-a-side football tournament at the Neville D'Souza turf in Bandra yesterday. Among the attendees for the exciting final were an animated Bollywood super star Aamir Khan with wife Kiran Rao, jumping and cheering from the sidelines for their son, Azad, who was playing for Ascend.

Positioned as a defender, Azad denied quite a few opposition attacks by successfully clearing the ball from just outside the penalty area. Aamir, who celebrated his 54th birthday yesterday, was over the moon. "I'm very happy to be here to see this final. It's just lovely to see all these kids, some six, some seven and some of them eight-year-olds, playing so wonderfully," Aamir, told mid-day.

Aamir, the athlete
"I used to play football, cricket, hockey, badminton, table tennis, tennis, etc during my school days. I loved sports and I was not interested in studies. I was Maharashtra No. 1 in sub-junior tennis. Even today, I play football with Azad sometimes," added the actor, who excelled in blockbusters like Lagaan, Dhoom 3 and Dangal among other films.

Aamir Khan's son Azad (standing, 4th from left) with his victorious Ascend International U-8 teammates in Bandra yesterday

However, playing a real-life sporting icon in a film is not yet on Aamir's agenda. "Oh! I have not even thought about that yet," he said when asked if he had any plans to consider a lead role in any sport's biopic.

Coming back to the final, skipper Rushabh Madhav scored the opener in the seventh minute to put Holy Family ahead only to see Ascend's Mikhail Nathani beat goalkeeper Seyon Castellino to score the equaliser two minutes later.

Holy Family again took the lead, in the first minutes of the second half through Dhyey Tank. Ascend's Kaeyan Sinha then made it 2-2 to take the match into the tie-breaker. In the shootout, Kaeyan, Nathen Eisenberg and Mikhail were on target for Ascend, while only Ayush Pandey and Shaun D'Souza scored for Holy Family.

Scholar finish third
Earlier, in a third-place match, Scholar (Colaba) beat Bombay Scottish (Powai) 4-3 via tie-breaker after the scores were locked 2-2 initially. Skipper Khairya Jain scored both goals for Scholar, while Scottish scored through Shashwat Phuleria and Ishaan Kalantri. In the tie-breaker, Khairya and Kavy Darji found the target for Scholar, while only Ethan James scored for Scottish.

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