Sai Sankhe, who led India to the SAFF U-15 Women's Championship trophy in Bhutan in 2019, has achieved another important feat after scoring 96.2% in her ICSE Class 10 examinations - the results of which were declared on Friday. The striker, who is in contention for a spot in India’s squad for the upcoming FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup to be held in India in 2021, spoke about the balance she maintained between her studies and football.

"The pressure was there as I really wanted to do very well in my boards and ace them. With the result I secured, I am very happy. If you love football and consider education to be as important, you can do both together - hands down," Sankhe said in an interview with the All India Football Federation’s official website.

"The exams started at the end of February this year but my preparation began much before while we were in our training camp. I was following up with my regular school studies at all times while at the camp. If we had training in the morning, I would come back and study for some time before lunch. After the evening training, I would study again. If there was no morning training on a day, I would use that time to study too. Basically, whatever time I could get, I used to it to study and prepare," Sankhe said while explaining her exam-time regime.

A striker on the field, Sankhe was picked up by the national team after her performances at the Hero Junior Girls' NFC 2019-20 in Kolhapur in April last year. She spoke about the importance of education as emphasized by her coaches at the training camp, saying, “Our coaches in the team were really supportive and stressed on how important education is for all of us. They really helped us and organized tuitions for us as well. We couldn't have asked for more.”

“The tuitions started in November itself and we had them for three months. In the evenings, you could study any subject you want and the teacher was there to help you. I used to study history and geography in those tuitions because those are subjects I hadn't much,” she added.

The young gun was also congratulated by Senior Women's National Team Head Coach Maymol Rocky, while stressing on the importance of education for both boys and girls, "Congratulations to Sai. I think that sports and academics should go hand-in-hand for both girls and boys. She has set an example for her teammates that without studies we cannot do anything. I tell all parents and fans that you need to push your children for both sports and studies and that we cannot neglect studies."

"I think all the girls need to step up and start studying. They need to keep that in mind that you can’t skip academics. The fans out there should understand that our federation gives importance to studies as well. And credit to the coaches also who are pushing the girls to pursue and excel in both fields," Maymol said in appreciation.