Mumbai: Schools struggle to form teams due to Diwali break

The Powai school lost 1-4.Coach Kunal Done said that five of his players have proceeded with their families on Diwali vacation and that they had requested MSSA officials to postpone the matches

Bombay Scottish (Powai) managed to field only eight players against Colaba Municipal School (Colaba), who just about managed to field 11 players for their Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised Utpal Sanghvi U-14 knockout inter-school football match at Azad Maidan yesterday.

The Powai school lost 1-4.Coach Kunal Done said that five of his players have proceeded with their families on Diwali vacation and that they had requested MSSA officials to postpone the matches.

"We had requested MSSA football secretary Sebastian Fernandes to cancel our game today as all our players were not available but our request was turned down," he said. Ryan International (Chembur) and Aditya Birla (Tardeo) also had the exact playing XI for their respective matches. The Chembur side lost 0-7 to Holy Family (Andheri), while Aditya Birla were beaten 0-3 by Our Lady of Salvation.

Other coaches also complained about scheduling matches during the Diwali vacations, which began yesterday. However, Sebastian said that no school had requested for postponements. "Nobody requested me to change their match schedule. I drew up the fixtures around two weeks ago after checking with schools about their availability. St Anne's (Malad) had sent a letter asking to postpone their game and I have done so," said Sebastian adding that there will be a break in the football schedule till November 12 or 13 depending on the availability of the schools.

Results: Colaba Municipal School 4 (Sanju Rathod 3, Suraj Singh) beat Bombay Scottish (Powai) 1 (Sujit Rishi); Holy Family (Andheri) 7 (Sanford Dias 6, Fugail Munshi) beat Ryan International, (Chembur) 0.

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