Canada's teenage striker in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup, Keegan Pereira, may not recall much of his younger days in Bandra's Bazaar Road, but he sure remembers his Mumbai School Sports Association-organised inter-school hockey matches.
Canada's teenage striker in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup, Keegan Pereira, may not recall much of his younger days in Bandra's Bazaar Road, but he sure remembers his Mumbai School Sports Association-organised inter-school hockey matches.
"I remember playing for St Stanislaus was a matter of great pride because we had good hockey and football teams. I was really small then. The main thing I remember is we were the favourites. We beat top teams like St Andrew's and Don Bosco (Matunga) quite comfortably under coach Hyacinth Cardoz," Keegan told MiD DAY in his Canadian accent here yesterday after his team lost their fourth consecutive Pool A match, by a 2-9 scoreline to Korea.
Keegan is the son of former Mumbai winger Reginald Pereira who migrated to Canada less than a decade ago and now lives in Scarborough, Ontario. This explains Keegan's love for field hockey rather than ice hockey which is a rage in his adopted country. "Everyone plays ice hockey in Canada. It's very big. No one really prefers to play field hockey, but I took to the game because of my dad, who is very passionate about the sport. He told me it's India national sport," added Keegan, who like his father, plays in the forwardline.
As the topic veers back to his school days, Keegan's face lights up. '"Playing schools' hockey in Mumbai was great fun. I remember the matches were very competitive and parents would come to watch and cheer from the sidelines. In Canada, it's not all that great fun.
"People in Canada are so busy with their work that they don't have too much time for sport. In fact, my dad who works for a private firm in Toronto was very keen on coming here but he was unable to get time off work," said Keegan.
The Kinesiology student from Victoria University said he has visited Mumbai only once after moving out of India. "I have my cousins, aunts and uncles here and we came here in 2005. It was great fun. I love Mumbai," said Keegan, who has though completely forgotten Hindi.
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