Indian eves win South Asian handball title in style
LUCKNOW: The first-ever official national championship of handball in India took place in 1972 at Rohtak in Haryana, and since then there has been a tremendous improvement in the standard of the game even at international level.
However, things do not look good in terms of facilities.
At a time when the game is being played on artificial courts and that too in indoors, it is being organised on muddy grounds in the open causing difficulties to players as well as organisers.
For the second time, the Handball Federation of India (HFI) conducted the 5th South Asian Women’s Handball Championship at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium here and players as well organisers faced a number of difficulties, including stray dogs on the ground, during the match.
All the pain and agony, however, got over on Tuesday when defending champions and hosts India retained the glittering trophy in style, winning all their four matches in the five-team event. Before defeating Afghanistan 24-9 in their penultimate encounter on Tuesday morning, India defeated last year’s runners-up Bangladesh 27-10 in their final league match.
Nepal, which won three matches finished second, whereas Bangladesh stood third. They were followed by Afghanistan and Bhutan.
“We have been struggling to have a wooden court and that too in indoors for the conduct of such big events in the state capital for the last many years,” HFI secretary-general Anandeshwar Pandey said.
“It is one of the most entertaining and popular sports in India. We need to conduct big events in indoor to improve the standard of competitions,” he added.
Rajwant and Rimmpy were star performers for India in the last match, netting five goals each. Though Bangladesh girls intensified their attacks in the second half, netting a series of goals in quick succession, they found it hard to overpower the strong Indian side.