FOREWORD

HANDBALL
Handball competitions which attracted huge crowds were held at the
scenic LNIPE, Tepesia, Guwahati from 11th to 15th February 2016. The
event drew participation from all nations except Bhutan in the women’s
category and except Bhutan & Maldives in the men’s category. A total of
189 athletes participated in the sport with 88 men and 101 women along
with 45 team officials.
The first phase of the competition was played out on a round robin
format with teams divided into two groups which, were followed
by knock out phase of semi-finals, followed by the finals. The men’s
competitions went as per the expectations with India and Pakistan
dominating the respective groups and making the semi-finals without
breaking much sweat with Nepal and Bangladesh being the other
semi-finalists. The semi-finals also went as per the expectations with
India and Pakistan easing past their opponents to set up a rematch of
the handball finals in the previous edition held at Dhaka in 2010. The
final was a nail biting contest in which India established early lead but
Pakistan came back strongly to level the score at 31-31 with just a minute
to play. The Indians, however, held their nerves to win the thriller 32-31
sending the crowd into a frenzy and winning the prestigious gold, which
they had lost out to same opponents in 2010. Bangladesh clinched the
men’s bronze in the third place playoff against Nepal. The women’s
competition saw India and Bangladesh dominating their respective
groups and making it to the semi-finals with ease. India leapfrogged
Pakistan while Bangladesh defeated Nepal to make it to the finals, which
saw another commanding performance by the Indian women winning
the final 45-25. Pakistan won the bronze in the women’s event defeating
Nepal in a closely contested 3rd place playoff.
The week long competition was successfully conducted with the help of
8 ITOs, 42 NTOs and Competition Director Shri M K Nagendra.
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12 th SOUTH ASIAN GAMES | POST GAMES REPORT