Goa Handball Academy’s League sets bar high for players



PANAJI

The Goa Handball Academy (GHA) started in 2015 is not only organizing coaching clinics for Referees, coaches, adopting schools and introducing them to the game and grooming young players to be future coaches, they also organize a league Goa Handball League (GHL) which has created a name for itself in the state and across the country.

The special stand out features of the league is the player’s auction and also the participation of selected players from outside the state.

“For the last 4 years Goa Handball Academy have been organizing Goa Handball League (GHL)wherein we have 6 team owned by former handball players of SFX Siolim school,” said Anant Sawal of the GHL hosted and conducted by GHA.

“Each team owner spends approximately 50k to 75k on his team for kit, practice allowance @100 per day, dearness allowance@300 per day, Free stay for outstation players, mostly players from South Goa)

“In the last edition of GHL 4.0 we had brought 6 players from Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka and distributed them to each team, their base price 10k plus all other allowances.

The Special features of the Goa Handball Academy League is the prize money of Rs. 2.25 lakhs

“Winners get Rs. 75,000, Rs. 50,000 for Runners up, Rs.35,000 for both semifinalists and Rs. 10,000 for the fifth and sixth place teams. The budget is around 15 lakhs,” said Anant.

Elaborating further he said; “ The league is played under lights all 6 days, with daily 4 matches from 6pm to 11pm.”

“We also have the players auction, Trophy unveiling ceremony, Grand opening and Closing ceremony. Every year felicitation of students excelling in handball at school higher secondary colleges west zone university level,” he said.

Goa Handball Academy League

Teams and Their Owners

1. Nitz Spartan: Anant Sawal, a national handball player and former captain of Goa, now works with the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs (DSYA).

2. Friends Handballer: Dinesh Hadfadkar, Sandeep Patil, and Vijay Rajan (three classmates) are all national handball players. Vijay Rajan teaches physical education at St. Thomas Higher Secondary School, Aldona; Dinesh works with the PWD as a Junior Engineer; and Sandeep is a regional manager with Bajaj Finance.

3. Flying Handballer: Amit Morajkar, a handball player from SFX School, is currently a panchayat member at VP Marna, Siolim.

4. Zealous Lions: Clinton D'Souza, a handball player, is presently working with an MNC.

5. Ocean Kings: Viraj Chodankar and Dharma Toraskar, both handball players, are also businessmen.

6. Parsem Panthers: Keshav Bugde, a sports enthusiast and businessman from Parsem.