Uzbekistan win women handball trophy

KARACHI: Uzbekistan won the International Women Handball Championship when they beat India in their last league game at the Agriculture University Faisalabad on Wednesday.

Pakistan defeated Maldives to claim third position.

The Uzbeks did a fine job to oust the tough Indians 31-29 after a sweating affair.

It was an even game with both sides offering tough resistance, but near the end the Uzbeks forced their rivals to make mistakes in defence, which helped them emerge victorious.

Uzbekistan finished the event with eight points and had a smart goal-average of plus 35.

India wrapped-up their journey with six points with a goal-average of plus 38.

Pakistan, who had lost their previous three outings, were able to clinch the third position on better goal-average after outshining Maldives 21-15.

Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal had two points each but the hosts’ goal count was minus 11 as compared to Maldives’ minus 25 and Nepal’s minus 37.

The patron-in-chief of Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF) Iqrar Ahmed Khan graced the closing ceremony.

Also present were PHF president and chief organiser Mohammad Shafiq and Sports Board Punjab’s (SBP) Waqar Akbar and Hafeez Bhatti.

The SBP awarded Rs500,000 to the winners, Rs300,000 to the runners-up and Rs200,000 to the third position holders.

The foreign teams will start leaving on Thursday (today). India will stay for a few more days and play a friendly game against Pakistan on April 2 in Faisalabad in connection with the Peace for Sports Development campaign. “All the foreign teams enjoyed the event,” the chief organiser Shafiq told ‘The News’.