National Beach Handball Club League from tomorrow

LAHORE: National Beach Handball Club League will begin at the sand court of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, from Wednesday (tomorrow).

The three-day event features five teams: Quetta Bolan, Lahore Lions, Lyallpur Tigers, National Faisalabad and Sohaib Faisalabad. Each team will face each other once and at the end the team which finishes at the summit of the points chart will be declared the winner.

During the league a team will also be selected for the 1st Asian Beach Handball Club League slated to be held in Bandar Abbas, Iran, from February 29 to March 5. Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF) said that it is focusing on beach handball in which the country has amazing potential. “Due to lack of facilities in Pakistan for indoor handball the PHF is focusing more on beach handball.

Pakistan has a rich history at the international level in this genre of handball as the country won gold medal in the Asian Beach Handball Championship, Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2007, gold in the 1st Asian Beach Games, Bali, Indonesia, in 2008, silver in the 2nd Asian Beach Games, Muscat, Oman, in 2010, bronze medals in the 3rd Asian Beach Games, Haiyung, China, in 2012, 4th Asian Beach Games, Pokhut, Thailand, in 2014 and last Asian Beach Games, Danag, Vietnam, in 2016 and Asian Youth Handball Championship, Pattya, Thailand, in 2016,” the PHF said.

“Pakistan teams have also participated in the World Beach Handball Championship, Cardiz, Spain, 2007, World Games, Cohsiung, Chines Taipei, 2009 and World Youth Beach Handball Championship, Mauritius, 2016,” the federation said.

“Despite lack of facilities in indoor handball Pakistan has also won gold in the South Asian Games, Dhaka 2010 and the 2019 Nepal South Asian Games which was also the only gold of the national contingent in team sports," the PHF said.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the PHF told The News that there are also chances of sending two clubs to the Iran event. “There are chances but it is not yet confirmed,” the official was quick to add. The official said that organising the 1st Asian Beach Handball Club League was decided recently in the Executive Committee meeting of the Asian Handball Federation (AHF).