St Joseph's (Wadala) defended the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boys U-13 inter-school basketball title in style, beating The Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) 26-16 at the St Dominic Savio High School (Andheri) courts on Saturday.
The Wadala school’s Naresh Bohara top scored with 14 points, while Aadesh Ramrajya and Aditya Thakur scored four points each. Meanwhile, Khushish Jain was the highest scorer for Cathedral with six points.
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Naresh, who is a watchman’s son, felt his contribution in his team’s third straight title triumph will silence those people who ridiculed him for belonging to a modest background.
“There were times when people used to tease me about being a watchman’s son. I never used to get to play and used to watch others play from outside. Once I made it to the school team, things changed slowly,” said 12-year-old Naresh.
Meanwhile St Joseph’s coach Noor Mohammad Shaikh said that the team’s performance is creditable considering the boys come from humble
backgrounds. “This title is huge for most of these boys.
Many of them come from a lower middle class background. For them, sport is a way to stay away from trouble. I am glad that they won the title,” said Shaikh.u00a0