THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala beach handball team is at the receiving end as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has excluded the event from the 36th National Games, starting this week in Gujarat.
Both indoor and outdoor versions of the game have been cancelled following a rift between rival factions of the handball association. The decision comes after both the factions claimed the right to send teams – 8 teams each of male and female players – for each of the two versions.
The last-minute exclusion has disappointed the players, who had been practising for the past 42 days, as their chance of winning a medal is in the balance. They expect a favourable decision from the Lucknow HC that will pronounce its verdict on Tuesday on the Handball Association in India’s (the official faction) plea seeking to include the sport in the National Games.
“The training was in progress at Poundukadavu in Thiruvananthapuram. We were given hints on September 19 about the chances of the game getting excluded. Later, we verified the schedule and came to know that the event has been cancelled,” said S S Sudheer, secretary, Kerala Handball Association.
“Our team is capable of winning a gold medal. All the 20 players have great expectations of getting a government job if they win medals in the games,” said Sivaprasad S, captain of the Kerala Handball team.
G Sunilkumar, president of Kerala Olympic Association, told TNIE that the association is frequently communicating with the IOA to address the issue at the earliest.
“The reason for excluding the sport from the National Games is due to a rift between two handball associations (Handball Association India and the National Handball Federation in India) currently functioning in the country. Earlier, there was only one association. Recently, it split into two, and the problems within the federation prompted the IOA to exclude the game at the last minute,” he said.