Bengal made a mark at the National Handball Championship. Reaching the final for the first time, Bengal's team snatched the winner's title. The 54th National Handball Championship concluded at Netaji Subhas Sports Arena in Chinsurah. The competition had started on December 15. Thirty-four states and union territories participated in it.
On Friday, Bengal reached the final by defeating Chhattisgarh in the semifinal. On the other hand, Chandigarh reached the final by defeating Rajasthan. In Saturday's final match, Bengal's team became champions by dominating from the beginning. The match result was Bengal 37, Chandigarh 33 goals. Power Minister Shobhandev Chattopadhyay and Techno India Group chief Satyam Roy Chowdhury were present during the main event.
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The minister said, "I myself was involved with sports. I played rugby for Mohun Bagan. At one time, I was the national captain in boxing. So I love sports. However, I watched handball for the first time. It's played at tremendous speed. Physical strength is required to play handball. Infrastructure is being developed in the districts. Many opportunities will be created from here. It feels good that Bengal became champion for the first time."
Satyam Roy Chowdhury said, "There's a big debt to the people of Chinsurah. Bengal became the National Handball Champion. Netaji Subhas Sports Arena – this is the first event by Techno India Group, and history has been created. There was concern about whether a national-level event like this could be conducted properly. However, with everyone's cooperation, it has been completed. We witnessed a wonderful event for five days. The main objective of Netaji Subhas Sports Arena will be to develop players at the state and national levels from here."
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Bengal team captain Debashish Karmakar showed extraordinary skill in the final match. He is the goalkeeper. He saved many goals. He said, "The team boys played very well, and we became champions. This is a very big achievement. Handball is very popular in Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi. In Bengal, it's much less in comparison. I hope our victory will take handball much further in Bengal in the coming days."
According to Bengal team coach Firoz Ahmed, handball is one of the fastest games. With this initiative taken by the Handball Association of India, even though it may take some time to reach the popularity of cricket and football, it will become popular among other sports. We had prepared separate strategies for each match. Each opposing team had come with very good preparation. We defeated them and became champions. The team for the Asian Games will be selected from this National Handball Championship competition.
