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M
D Paralkar
A half century and still going strong
 With
the Giles Shield, the city's premier inter-school
cricket tournament, getting under way on October 30, the organising
secretary of the Giles Shield and Harris Shield tournaments
M D Paralkar has every reason to feel proud. Paralkar has
had the honour of being associated with this prestigious tournament
for over 5 decades. Paralkar has seen batting maestros like Sunil
Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar slog it out in the Giles Shield and
Harris Shield during their formative years.
 72-year-old
Paralkar derives his expertise not only from his rich experience
as an administrator in cricket affairs, but also as a player who
had represented Wilson High School in the Giles and Harris
Shield. He led his school to victory in 1943-44. He also played
a key role in the other three victories of his school in the Giles
Shield. Paralkar took over the post of cricket secretary of
the Bombay School Sports Association in the mid-80s and has
worked for the betterment of the tournament. Mumbaibest spoke to
M D Paralkar at the Mumbai Schools Sports Association office.
 "During
my school days, the Harris Shield and the Giles Shield matches were
held on a two-day basis, and would start in October and end in May
the following year. Today more than 140 teams participate. So when
I took over as the secretary, we decided to change the format of
Harris Shield and Giles Shield. Like the junior level college tournaments,
we devised the preliminary rounds for these tournaments on a one-day
basis, so that it gets over by January and the students get ample
time to concentrate on their studies," says Paralkar.
Paralkar feels that talented youngsters can take full advantage
of these prestigious inter-school cricket tournaments. “There
are many top schools like Rizvi Springfield, V N Sule Guruji, Shardashram
Vidyamandir and Balmohan Vidyamandir who hire professional coaches
to train their teams. So students can take full advantage of these
tournaments and display their talent”.
The Harris Shield and Giles Shield matches are held at Azad Maidan,
Cross Maidan, Shivaji Park and Elf-Vengsarkar Academy (Oval).
Author's Name : Wasim
Siddiqui
Photographer's Name
: Uma Kadam
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