"My cousin, aunt and uncle gave me a surprise by gifting me a pair of football studs
Campion's Shivansh Khandewal aims at the goal during the MSSA inter-school match v St. Francis D'Assisi. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Shivansh Khandewal took the liberty of enjoying an extended birthday treat. Having celebrated his 14th birthday on Friday, Shivansh playing with a new pair of blue studs, scored two goals to lead Campion School 'B' (Cooperage) to a 2-0 win against St. Francis D'Assisi 'B' (Borivli) in the boys' U-16 Div-III-C league match of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan on Saturday.
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"My cousin, aunt and uncle gave me a surprise by gifting me a pair of football studs. I quickly tried them out and decided to play with the new shoes today. They turned out to be lucky as I scored two goals," Shivansh told mid-day after the game.
Misses out on hat-trick
But when reminded about missing out on scoring a third goal, he replied: "I missed scoring a hat-trick... it would have been the icing on the cake. I had an open opportunity, but due to a bit of bad bounce I kicked the ball over the bar," said Shivansh, who also enjoys playing tennis, basketball, table tennis, chess and participating in athletics.
The enterprising midfielder Shivansh exhibited excellent dribbling and finishing skills and is also blessed with the ability to shoot with both legs. He demonstrated his prowess as both his goals came after dodging past defenders and scoring with left-footed efforts.
In the 19th minute, Campion striker Vedant Mashruwala couldn't control a long ball and it deflected towards Shivansh, who trapped it and sidestepped a defender before unleashing a low angular shot which hit the far vertical post and went in.
The second goal was much better as he intercepted a goal kick and then weaved his way past a couple of rival defenders as he veered to the left side of the goal area and then coolly slotted past the D'Assisi goalkeeper Kola Prince in the 38th minute.
Hooked on reading
Bubbling with excitement Shivansh stated that he takes inspiration by reading biographies of famous sportspersons. "I enjoy reading. I used to read a lot of comic books and then got hooked on to Harry Potter, but of late, I have been reading books of sports personalities," the youngster said before returning home to prepare for his exams.
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