Handball meet: SAI trainees bag silver

Our Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 28

Trainees of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Training Centre have brought fame to their centre again as they secured silver medal in the Punjab State Schools Handball Tournament (boys’ U-17) held from September 24 to 27 at Faridkot.

The team comprised Mandeep, Ram Pal, Jasbir Singh, Monu, Parveen, Rohit, Vikas, Shakti Bhoora, Gurlal, Abhishek and Gurbanspal Singh.

Players from the centre began their campaign at Faridkot in a whirlwind fashion. In the first match, they outclassed SAS Nagar (Mohali) 23-10 and then drubbed Gurdaspur 24-5. In the third encounter, SAI lads outperformed Amritsar by 22-14 to storm into the quarterfinals. The SAI players got the better of Mansa boys 34-25 to assure themselves a berth in the semifinal where they beat Sangrur 26-13 to set up the title clash with hosts Faridkot.

In the final, SAI centre boys waged a spirited battle before going down 19-22 against Faridkot and had to content with the runners-up trophy.

On the basis of performance, six players of the SAI team, Mandeep, Ram Pal, Jasbir, Parveen, Monu and Rohit, have been selected to represent Punjab in the upcoming National Schools Handball Championship.