MSSA: Arjun Asudani, Rohaan Batra shine for Dhirubhai Ambani school

Dhirubhai Ambani International school side pose with MSSA Division III trophy at the Neville D'souza Ground in Bandra. Pic/ Suresh Karkera

Arjun Asudani, 14, and Rohaan Batra, 15, exhibited clinical finishing to score a goal each in guiding Dhirubhai Ambani International School (Bandra-Kurla Complex) to a 2-0 win against Hiranandani Foundation School (Powai) in the boys U-16 Division-III final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at the Neville D'Souza ground in Bandra yesterday.

A dominant Dhirubhai Ambani school looked compact and solid in every aspect and created better chances, but failed to land the knockout punch initially as the Hiranandani lads did well to put up a spirited fight.

But towards the end, they seemed to tire a bit and the Dhirubhai Ambani attackers exploited the situation to hit the target twice and emerge victorious.

In the 35th minute, Arjun trapped Anirudh Fadia's long forward punt and dribbled past a defender before unleashing a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Shaurya's effort goes in vain

Hiranandani goalkeeper Shaurya Mittal, who had made two saves, made a valiant diving effort but could only get his fingertips to the ball before it flew into the net.
Later, Rohaan fired in the second goal in the second minute of stoppage period. Following Iman Bhanji's centre from the right, Rohaan got to the end of ball and quickly made room before executing a neat left-footer into the roof of the net.

Both Arjun and Rohaan attributed their success to the efforts of their coaches, former India striker Bernard Pereira and Chanchal Singh.

"Both Bernard Sir and Chanchal Sir have put in so much effort to monitor our training and practice sessions. They have a lot of passion and have been continuously guiding us on how to emerge champions," Arjun told mid-day.

Initial jitters for Dhirubhai

Rohaan stressed that they were determined to win as it was their last MSSA match. "Right from the group phase we have been motivating each other to win every match as we wanted to clinch this title.

"We have been playing right from U-8 age group and since this is our final year, we decided to give it our all. We were a bit nervous initially today and could not convert early but we knew that it was just a matter of time before we scored," Rohaan said.

Scottish Powai finish third

Earlier, Bombay Scottish (Powai) beat Colaba Municipal School (Colaba) 3-0 in the third-place match. Sohan Khadtare, Aryan Patil and Advait Rabade scored a goal each for the Powai school.

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