Hoshangabad: The Indore team emerged victorious in the state-level Under-19 handball tournament played on the sports grounds of Samaritans School on Tuesday. In a nail-biting contest, Indore defeated Hoshangabad 33-30 in the finals.
The chief guest at the final match was Rajendra Singh, chairman of the MP Warehousing and Logistics Corporation while municipality CMO Pawan Kumar Singh presided over the function. Corporator Atul Bhandari was the special guest. Among others, Ashutosh Sharma, principal of the school and chairman of District Handball Association, Santosh Sharma, secretary of the school committee, social workers Sangram Singh and Jeevan Singh, Upasana Singh, Mamta and senior journalist Surinder Singh Arora were also present on the occasion.
As many as 13 teams from all over the state had taken part in the tournament. In the semi-finals played on Tuesday morning, Indore defeated Ashok Nagar and Hoshangabad vanquished Gwalior to enter the finals. Pritipal Singh Saluja, state secretary of the Association witnessed the semi-final match. The finals witnessed a close contest but Indore took a decisive lead towards the end and emerged champion.
The chief guest Rajendra Singh said that in sports contests, victories and defeats don’t matter and the losers should not feel disappointed. He said that the Indore team had played extremely well and also deserves praise. The Hoshangabad team also gave an impressive performance but lost for want of co-ordination towards the end of the match.
The CMO Pawan Singh said that that Handball was a game that requires great dexterity and co-ordination between the brain and the limbs. The winner team was handed over a shield and a cash award of Rs 21,000 while the runners-up got a cash award of Rs 15,000. The Gwalior team, which came third, got a cash award of Rs 7,000.