Rudrapur, 8 February (HS): The handball matches of the 38th National Games started with a bang. A total of seven matches were played on the first day, in which Haryana’s men and women teams performed brilliantly and won their respective matches by a big margin.

Haryana women’s team’s explosive start

In the women’s category, Haryana started its campaign brilliantly by defeating Bihar by a big margin of 47-16. Sonika and Asha Rani scored six goals each for Haryana, while Renu, Priyanka and Nikki scored five goals each. Khushboo Kumari scored the highest number of six goals for Bihar.

In the second match, Himachal Pradesh defeated Uttarakhand 45-6. Himachal’s Mithali Sharma scored eight goals, Kritika Thakur and Jagriti Devi scored seven goals each, giving the team a big win.

In the most exciting match of the day, Rajasthan defeated Uttar Pradesh 23-22. In the first half, both teams were tied at 11-11, but in the second half, Rajasthan took a 12-11 lead and won the match. Rukmini Bithu and Manisha scored five goals each for Rajasthan, while Mona and Sapna Kashyap also scored five goals each for Uttar Pradesh.

Haryana dominated in the men’s category too

In the men’s category, there was a tough competition between Rajasthan and Delhi, in which Delhi registered a thrilling win by 31-30. Delhi’s Vikas (6), Sushil (5) and Krishna (5) performed brilliantly, while Lokendra Singh and Rohitash scored six goals each for Rajasthan.

The match between Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ended in a 28-28 draw. Jasmeet of Madhya Pradesh and Mohammad Aamir Hussain of Chhattisgarh scored 10-10 goals to keep their teams tied.

Haryana’s men’s team also displayed their brilliant game and defeated Jharkhand by 46-26. Haryana’s Sandeep (7), Davinder Singh (6), Mohit (5) and Sunil (5) performed well. For Jharkhand, Nadeem Qureshi scored 9 and Mohammad Shahrukh Anwar scored 7 goals.

In the last match of the day, Services defeated Uttarakhand 41-35. Services’ Sukhveer Singh scored 11 and Bhushan Shinde scored 8 goals, while Uttarakhand’s Dinesh Kumar (10 goals), Arun Sharma (8 goals) and Bhupendra Singh (7 goals) played well.

Major results of the first day:

Women’s category:

Haryana 47-16 Bihar

Himachal Pradesh 45-6 Uttarakhand

Rajasthan 23-22 Uttar Pradesh

Men’s category:

Rajasthan 30-31 Delhi

Madhya Pradesh 28-28 Chhattisgarh

Jharkhand 26-46 Haryana

Services 41-35 Uttarakhand

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar