Pune edge past Gadchiroli in a thrilling final

The two day 37th Sub-Junior Girls Maharashtra State Handball Championship organised by Handball Association, Thane ended on a high note, with Nilesh Murkute coached Pune side emerging as the champions early this week.

The thrilling see-saw final that was played between Pune and Gadchiroli districts, was destined for extra time after the two teams were tied 13-all with less than a minute for the final whistle. The Pune eves under the leadership of Kalpana Kharat however showed greater resolve and coordination in their quick counter attack and managed to breach the resolute Gadchiroli defence with a nine metre goal from their star attacker Pinki Sukale in the final 15 seconds, of the edge of the seat thriller tie to claim the winner’s trophy.

Sangli on the other hand defeated Nashik to claim the third position.

In the semi-final ties that was played earlier Pune got the better of Nashik and Pornima Bhanarkar’s Gadchiroli outfit ended the campaign of Sangli.

D.S. Gosavi,Superintendent of Customs & Central Excise(Retd.), Jt. Secretary - Ball Badminton Federation of India and Deepak Tawade, Principal - Ram Krishnaa Academy, Kewale, Panvel in presence of Chaitali Choudhary - Organising Secretary - Handball Association, Thane and other dignitaries latter handed over the Winners and Runners-up trophies to Pune and the spirited Gadchiroli teams. Further they also felicitated Supriya Raut ( Gadchiroli) and Kalpana Kharat (Pune) with the individual awards for being the ‘Best Player of the Tournament’ and ‘Best Goalkeeper of Tournament’ respectively.

Earlier the U-15 age group tournament for girls saw a huge response with participation from as many as 21 district teams across the state including Thane and Raigad district that was held at the Ram Krishnaa Academy, Kewale, Panvel, Raigad, Maharashtra. The same was inaugurated by Chief Guests Manoj Yadav, General Secretary - Forward Seamen’s Union of India  and Sudhindra Hegde, Secretary - Vidyadhiraj Charitable Trust in presence of Guest of Honours Rajaram Raut - Secretary -Handball Association Maharashtra,  Rupesh More - Jt Secretary Handball Association India both Shiv Chhatrapati awardees and Kiran Anchan - Director, Sports SVKM & NMIMS University amidst huge cheers from around 400 officials and players  on the opening day of the highly competitive tourney last weekend.

Result (Final):

Pune 14 (Pinki Sukale 6, Siddhi Gandhi 4, Tanaya Patil 2, Shital Kharat 1, Purva Kapse 1) beat  Gadchiroli 13 (Supriya Raut 4, Pornima Bhanarkar 4, Unnati Rodge 3).

Photo Cover: Pune's  r Pinki Sukale rises high to score one of her six goals against Gadchiroli in the final of the 37th Sub-Junior Girls Maharashtra State Handball Championship

Photo Above: Winning Pune team that was captained by Kalpana Kharat and coached by Nilesh Murkute pose with the dignitaries during the prize distribution ceremony