Open Senior State-Level Invitational Men’s Handball Championship
Lucknow: Host city Lucknow has secured its place in the final of the Open Senior State-Level Invitational Men’s Handball Championship with a thrilling victory in the first semifinal. Lucknow will now face Gorakhpur in the title clash.
Organized under the aegis of the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate and the Regional Sports Office, Lucknow, the championship is being held at the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Multipurpose Hall, KD Singh Babu Stadium. On the second day of the tournament, Lucknow edged past Varanasi with a close 26-25 victory in the first semifinal.
Ankit led Lucknow’s scoring with 7 goals, followed by Anurag with 5 goals. Shubham, David, and Pravesh contributed with 4 goals each. For Varanasi, Ajay Yadav was the top scorer with 7 goals, while Aneesh Yadav netted 6 and Ayush Kumar scored 4. At halftime, Lucknow was leading 11-7.
In the second semifinal, Gorakhpur defeated Mau 22-21 in another nail-biting contest. Manvendra starred for Gorakhpur with 7 goals, while Manish scored 6, Pawan netted 5, and Dheeraj added 3. On the other side, Soham scored 6 goals for Mau, while Sonu and Suraj contributed 5 and 4 goals, respectively.
The much-anticipated final between Lucknow and Gorakhpur promises to be an intense battle for the championship trophy.
