Handball team records first win in U-20 Worlds

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 27

The Indian women’s junior handball team has created history by registering its first ever win in the U-20 World Championships, being held in Celje and Lasko in Slovenia. The Indian girls beat Iran 31-30 in the ranking placements on Sunday. This is the first ever win for any Indian team, men’s or women’s, in any age-group World Championships.

The same team had won the Junior Women’s Asian Championship gold to qualify for the U-20 World Championships. This was the first instance of an Indian handball team medalling at the Asian event. “We knew that our young team may struggle against the European teams but I am happy to say that they gave their all and registered this first ever win,” chief coach Sachin Chaudhary told The Tribune over the phone from Slovenia.

It was a topsy-turvy match. The Iranians lead 14-12 at the break but the Indian team, led by skipper Priyanka Thakur — who scored eight goals — and Bhavna, who top-scored with 10 goals, pegged back the Iranians to stay in contention. The Indian team led 31-29 with two minutes of regulation time left on the clock, eventually winning by a one-goal margin. “It was a very tight contest as the score suggested. Everyone will say that our scorers did the job for us but the standout player for me was our goalie Chetna Devi,” he added.

The team is out of the reckoning for the knockout stage after it lost three matches to higher-ranked opponents, losing 23-41 to Japan, 18-46 to The Netherlands and 12-59 to Slovakia.

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