Indian women's handball teams have always been the strongest in the South Asian region and beating them in the final to win the Bangabandhu IHF Challenge Trophy Women's (Youth and Junior) in youth section seemed like a double delight for the Bangladesh Under-17 girls Wednesday.
The final of the junior category (U-19) also featured Bangladesh and India but this time around, the latter emerged champions with a commanding victory on the same day.
It was a difficult task as well as a surprising one for Bangladesh to defeat the neighbors who had beaten them in their last match of group round fixtures earlier in the tournament.
In front of more than 1,000 spectators at National Handball Stadium in the capital, the home side were lagging behind most of the time but eventually won the final narrowly by 46-43 margin.
With the victory, the Bengal girls advanced to the second round of the tournament as champions of South-Central Asia Zone 2.
Bangladesh captain Mosammat Marfi, who was later adjudged best player in youth event, struck first but India took the lead back soon afterwards and at one point were leading by five goals.
The first half ended 20-20 and the visitors resumed the game brightly before their goalkeeper left the field injured.
Bangladesh also played without their first-choice keeper Diya Akter but her replacement Mithila Akter played a vital role in between the posts unlike the Indian substitute.
India were soon reduced to six after one of the players, Pradnya Balaso, received a red card before Bangladesh also lost top scorer Marfi following three yellow cards.
India were still leading the game 41-39.
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Bangladesh were eventually crowned champions thanks to Runa Layla who netted 14 goals, one more than Marfi, while Taniya, Dipa Rani, Fatema Prema and Sania Akter scored 14, 10, five and one respectively.
They earlier opened their campaign with a comfortable 48-10 victory against the Maldives before crushing Nepal 50-4 but beating India was a surprise, admitted head coach Dalia Akter after the game.
Dalia began her playing career in 1995 before getting into the national team five years later.
She continued representing the country until 2018 before retiring two years ago.
It was her first assignment as the head coach of a national team.
“We had never beaten India in any format of handball – men's or women's, youth or senior level. We also won the same youth competition in Pakistan in 2014 but India didn't play there. This is the first time in history that we beat India,” Dalia told Dhaka Tribune.
She informed that the U-17 girls have been together for around only 22 days in the training camp to take preparation for the tournament.
“We became champions because of hard work, team spirit and highest effort from everyone. We all tried together. As I told before the tournament, we can spring a surprise and that is exactly what happened,” said Dalia.
The players hail from places where handball is practiced and played regularly with at least five - Marfi, Runa, Dipa, Tania and Sania - coming from Tetulia of Panchagarh district.
Women's handball was introduced at the South Asian Games in 2016 where Bangladesh finished second behind India.
Dalia believes that if the champion girls are nurtured with proper training programs and practice matches, they could bring more laurels for the country in future.
