Clinch two golds and one silver at National Masters Games, Pune THE masters handball team of Maharashtra won two gold and one silver medal at the 8th National Masters Games that were held at Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune recently. Maharashtra team comprised former international and Shiv Chhatrapati Awardee handball players from Nagpur. In the 50+ age group final, Maharashtra beat Kerala 15-11 to lift the title. In the 60+ age group title clash, Maharashtra defeated Kerala 12-08. In the 55+ age group, Maharashtra lost to Kerala by margin of just two goals and had to be satisfied with a silver medal. Teams from Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Assam participated in the tournament.

 

All the players of Maharashtra team were above 55 years. They all played extremely well and stubbornly brought home the titles by showing their skills, team spirit and physical ability. Maharashtra squads were trained under the guidance of Atmaram Pande, whose coaching played a key role in the team’s performance. Players of winning teams include — Atul Durugkar, Ashish Banerjee, Murli Nambiar, Sunil Bhotmange, Nitin Bhole, Upendra Verma, Dinesh Naidu, Inderjeet Singh Randhawa, Pankaj Kothari. Kawaljeet Singh (Coach). Subodh Bakshi (Manager). The players dedicated the success to their coaches and former team-mates who are no longer with them. Maharashtra squads were hailed by Dr Babanrao Taywade, Roopkumar Naidu, Atmaram Pande, Rajkumar Naidu, MLA Sandip Joshi, Pallavi Dhatrak, Dy Director Sports; Vijay Barse, Dr Piyush Ambulkar, Sports Officer, NMC and others.