23 December,2021 07:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Gordon D’Costa
Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock
The Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) hockey team were an improved lot after their rest day and the results were slightly better in their last three Group-A league matches of the Khelo India Women's Hockey League 2021 (U-21), at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, Delhi.
The MSSA team, playing under the guidance of Fr Jude Rodrigues (head coach) according to the match scoresheets available on the official Hockey India website, cut an extremely sorry figure, losing all their six matches by huge margins.
The beleaguered Mumbai team had conceded 38 goals in the opening three matches, but despite the addition of two new players, leaked another 26 goals from their remaining three games and finished their engagements by conceding an embarrassing 64 goals and without scoring a single goal in six outings.
According to sources, MSSA officials had sent an SOS requesting for reinforcements and two players, Priya Dubey and Akansha Singh, both from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Mumbai, joined the team and they both featured in the last three games. But even their presence could not help the demoralised MSSA team avoid humiliation.
In the fourth outing, MSSA lost 0-9 to Him Academy from Himachal Pradesh on Sunday and on Monday, they conceded the least number of goals, going down to Sports Authority of India âB', Delhi by a 0-5 margin. They once again felt the heat against Hockey India Junior Women's team, suffering a crushing 0-12 defeat.
The MSSA team seemed to be a completely disjointed lot and in total disarray as they conceded 40 field goals, 22 from penalty corners and just two penalty strokes.
The key reason for MSSA's dismal showing could be the lack of professionalism and the choice of engaging a qualified and competent person for the coaching job, especially at the grassroots. Hopefuly, these defeats will be a wake-up call to move in the right direction and one can only hope that the children are provided with the best mentor to guide them.
