Chennai, Aug 11: Over 200 players from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Tamil and Pondicherry will take part in the 25th south zone handball championship for men and women, to be held here from August 15 to 17.
A Saravanan, the organising secretary of the championship and secretary of the Tamil Nadu handball association told a press conference here this morning that matches in both men and women would be held under 'all play all' Round-Robin League. The top four in each section would qualify for the semifinals and then the two leading teams fight for the title.
Saravanan said after the regular participation of Indian handball teams in Asian, Commonwealth and world-level club tournaments "the game has become much more popular and institutions like Bhilai Steel Plant, Punjab Police, CISF, Meg and Railways have been recruiting handball players and this augurs well for the game'.
Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were the winners and runners-up in the men's while Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were the winners and runners-up in the women's sections in the last edition held in Hyderabad. Tamil Nadu had finished in third place in both sections. Bureau Report