Chandigarh enter last eight

ROOPNAGAR, March 10: Defending champions Kerala and West Bengal pool A, Punjab and Chandigarh pool B, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Prades...

ROOPNAGAR, March 10: Defending champions Kerala and West Bengal pool A, Punjab and Chandigarh pool B, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh pool C and Maharashtra and Delhi pool D qualified for the quarter-finals of the 27th National Women Handball Championship at the Nehru Stadium here today. Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir bowed out of the meet.

Holders Kerala won their second successive match after handing out a 20-3 drubbing to Haryana in their Pool A8217; league fixture. Runners-up Punjab also registered their second victory in succession as they routed Andhra Pradesh by 26-4. The highlight of the match was superb performance by Punjab Gurpreet Kaur who along accounted for 19 goals.

Tomorrow, in the quarter-final matches Kerala are pitted against Chandigarh, West Bengal will meet Punjab, Uttar Pradesh will cross swords with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will meeet Delhi.

Earlier, the technical committee had decided not to implement the new format decided by the Handball Federation of India. According to a member of the technical committee, this was necessitated due to poor response8217; by the states and union territories. Only twelve teams are taking part while 20 states had confirmed their entries.

Annual examinations and recenlty concluded National Games in Manipur are cited as the main reasons for the poor response.

Under the new format, holders and runners-up were to be given bye straight into the quarter-finals while the remaining teams were to be divided into six groups. One team from each pool would join the last year8217;s winners and runners-up in the last eight.

Reverting to the old format, holders Kerala, Haryana and West Bengal have been grouped in Pool A8217; while runners-up Punjab, Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh are Pool B8217;. The pool C8217; comprises Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka while, Maharashtra, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir are in Poll D8217;.

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Cash prizes given
Patiala: Government Mahendra College were awarded the Punjabi University Physical Education Department Inter-College general trophy for men at the annual prize distribution function at the Arts Auditorium here today. Government Physical College received the women8217;s trophy.

These colleges were awarded Rs. 2,000 each as cash prizes. The winners of the first three positions in All India Inter Varsity events men and women in cycling, boxing, weightlifting, powerlifting, kabaddi, hockey, handball and other games were awarded cash prizes of Rs. 1500 and gold medal, Rs. 1300 for silver medal and Rs. 1100 and bronze medal.

The team managers and coaches of the winning teams were also honoured.. The colleges winners in inter-college competitions were also given trophies.Gurbaksh Singh Anand, Director Sports NIS, Patiala gave away cash prizes.