Muhammed Mojawala, 14, of Christ Church HS (Byculla) stole the thunder as inter-school football resumed after a gap of two years following the Covid-19 break. The sturdy Muhammed scored all four goals in his team’s 4-0 rout of Our Lady of Salvation HS (Dadar) in a boys U-17 match of the District Sports Organisation (DSO) Mumbai City inter-school tournament at the Mumbai Police ground, Naigaon, on Thursday.

Two goals in each half

Dashing left-winger Muhammed, who is a huge Lionel Messi fan, exhibited plenty of versatility, fine ball control and shooting power, scoring two goals in each half. “It’s a great feeling to resume inter-school football. It was quite frustrating and boring to be home throughout the lockdown as I could not play football with my friends since all the grounds were closed. But after the restrictions were relaxed, we began playing on artificial turfs. I have represented my school in U-10 and U-12, but missed out on the U-14 group due to the Covid break, so it’s great to have started well for the U-16 team,” said Muhammed.