MSSA U-8 Handball: Gokuldham's Saumya Labade steals the show

Gokuldham's attacker Saumya Labade scores all eight goals to help Goregaon side thrash Jamnabai Narsee 8-0.

Saumya Labade of Gokuldham School (Goregaon) held centrestage as she tireless ran circles around the Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) girls. The energetic attacker scored all the eight goals in leading Gokuldham to a comfortable 8-0 win over Jamnabai Narsee in a girls under-8 match of the MSSA inter-school handball tournament at Azad Maidan on Friday.

Fleet-footed Saumya proved too quick for the Jamnabai girls, who were unable to keep pace to stop her from scoring goals at regular intervals.

The efforts of Jamnabai Narsee goalkeeper Yaashna Zubin Shah, who stood bravely under the bar, saved the school from suffering a defeat by a bigger margin.

Yaashna, virtually single-handedly withstood the rival onslaught from the Gokulddham attackers, in particular Saumya and made at least half a dozen saves, which restricted the opponents from increasing their tally of goals.

Saumya, who is also a budding athlete, has already won quite a few gold medals in domestic meets. Even after the match, she was not ready to settle or calm down as she continued to jump and run around with her teammates.

In the Mumbai Suburban District organised sub-junior meet last year, Saumya won gold and a silver in the 80 metres and 100 metres sprints respectively. She was also part of the school team that won the 4x100 metres relay gold.

"I love to run and being an athlete helped me in handball today. I want to win more medals both in handball and in athletics and I am willing to train hard to achieve success," said Saumya, who was surrounded by her impatient teammates.

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