Adelia makes a perfect start

The Apostolic Carmel student in her debut scores hat-trick

She is just nine-year-old but had the entire ground under control. Adelia Picardo an IV standard student from Apostolic Carmel, Bandra scored a hat-trick in her debut a record in this level of competition.

At the Azad Maidan, Adelia pint-size girl scored three goals as her team ran past the challenge of JB Peit in the girls under-12 Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) with a 4-0 win to notch up full points in this leaguecum-Knock out contest.

"Yes, I never thought I would score three goals, but I wanted to score a goal in the first game of my life," said Adelia while talking to FPJ after the match.

Daughter former Air India player Henry Picardo, Adelia picked up the game from him when she was five years old, and since then has been on the field. Cassandra D’Mello scored the fourth goal for the Bandra outfit.

In another one-sided match, Rustomjee International School, Dahisar cashed in on Nishi Doshi’s hat-trick of goals to outplay Dhirubhai International School, Bandra Kurla Complex 5-0. Harshini Iyer and Nyesha Mehta scored the first two goals and later. Nisha got into the scoring act by striking the next three goals to complete the big win for Rustomjee International.

Earlier, Stuti Kothari hammered home two goals in steering Smt. RSB Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu to 2-0 win against Janmabai Narsee, Juhu in a closely contested encounter. Annanya Desai got the lone consolation goal for Jamnabai Narsee.

Results

Girls’ under-12: Fazlani HS (Mazagon): 1 (Shreena Shah) bt CNM HS (Vile Parle): 0; Apostolic Carmel (Bandra): 4 (Adelia Picardo 3, Cassandra D’Mello) bt J.B. Petit (Fort) 0; Rustomjee International School (Dahisar): 5 (Nishi Doshi 3, Harshini Iyer, Nyesha Mehta) bt Dhirubhai International School (BKC): 0; Smt. RSB Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu): 2 (Stuti Kothari 2) bt Janmabai Narsee (Juhu): 1 (Annanya Desai); Bombay International (Babulnath): 0 drew with Christ Church ICSE (Byculla): 0.