A GOAL SNATCHED FROM JAWS OF DEFEAT

When the waves receded

- BAGALAVAN PERIER B @Cuddalore

Christmas or not, no compromise on practice," football coach S Mariappan told a group of chirpy teenage girls. Their weekend tradition was to add lustre to the Silver Beach sand with sharp kicks and passes. However, since Mariappan was tasked with urgent schoolwork on Sunday, practice was shifted to the Anna playground in Cuddalore. As curtains rose that morning, two decades ago, the girls began warming up. The skies were pregnant with clouds and minds with doubts as to whether the rain would interrupt. Nonetheless, the game began. Good humour abated as the scorecard ticked, and then the office phone rang.