MSSA football: Navy's Niloka Kiho nails it!

Niloka Kiho (extreme right bottom) with Navy Children teammates after winning the MSSA U-12 Div-III title at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/ Suresh Karkera

Niloka Kiho, 11, exhibited superb shooting skills, scoring twice from well-executed direct free-kicks to power Navy Children School (Colaba) to an emphatic 4-0 win over St Paul's (Dadar) in a lopsided boys U-12 Div-III final in the MSSA inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan on Monday.

The soft-spoken Niloka, who packs a lot of power and accuracy in his shots, easily beat St Paul's goalkeeper Mrunal Sutar on both occasions.

"I am very happy to contribute two goals. We all have worked hard by training from 5 am daily. This is the perfect reward," Niloka, who was born in Kohima, Nagaland, and relocated to Mumbai in 2018, told mid-day.

"I am having a good time in Mumbai as there is plenty of football activity here as compared to back home in Kohima," Niloka added. Navy Children asserted their dominance from the start as captain Mohit Yadav scored the opening goal from midfielder Adarsh Raj's assist in the very second minute. Two minutes later, Niloka caught everyone's attention, scoring his first goal from a rasping long-range shot from just inside the rival territory, beating Mrunal to the top right corner. He then proved that effort was no flash in the pan by scoring off another free-kick, this time from the top of box, just before the end of the first half.

The tall, sturdy Navy lads scored another goal mid-way through the second session. Adarsh latched on to an Abhimanyu Pushp through pass and coolly slotted home
for 4-0.

Earlier, St Aloysious (Bandra) beat St Mary's (Kalina) 4-0 in the third-place match. Daniel Salotkar and Vignesh Kolte scored a brace of each for the victors.

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