Handball in India

Handball is played with both or single hands, between two teams, where a ball is hit with the hand in a walled court with am aim to score goals. The ball is passed or thrown by the hands to score goals. The first Senior Men`s National Handball Championship was held at Rohtak District of Haryana in the year 1972. Haryana won the gold medal and Vidharbha got the silver medal.

History of handball in India goes back a long way. The game is very much popular in and there are a lot of debates over the origin of Handball. Though, many think that the game was played over four thousand years ago in Egypt, ancient Rome and by many other South American countries, some people claim that the game originated in the 11th century. However, the modern version of the game of Handball that everybody knows today actually came into existence only in the ending part of the 19th century in Northern Europe, primarily Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. If anybody keeps the new version of the game in mind, then it can be said that this game is much younger compared to the other games of the world.

The name "Handball" is actually the translation of the Danish name of the game into the language of German. This name was also influenced by the name of the game of Basket Ball. After the invention of the modern version of Handball, the game started to become more and more popular in the Central and Northern European countries. The first ever rules for the modern handball was drawn up by Dane Holger Nielsen in the year of 1898 and published them in 1906. Another person named as R.N. Ernst also did something similar in the year of 1897.

After the first two sets of rules were published, another set was published on October 29, 1917 by Max Heiser, Carl Schelenz and Erich Konigh from Germany. In the year of 1919, the famous professor of the Berlin Physical Education School, Carl Schelenz made a very good effort and improved these rules further. The first international games were played between Germany and Belgium for men in 1925 under the rules compiled by Carl Schelenz.

When the people started to play the game, they used to play it as an eleven-a-side game in the outdoors on a soccer field. The modern game of Handball actually evolved from three similar sports from three different European countries. The sports were the Hazena from Czech Republic, the Haandbold from the Netherlands and the Torball from Germany. All of the three sports were based on the famous sport of Soccer and the only difference was that the players used to play the ball with their hands in spite of their foot. For this difference, the players enjoyed more facility in batting or throwing the ball.

In the year of 1926, the Standard International Rules for the game were established. In 1928, the organisation that governs the game at the international level and named as the "International Amateur Handball Federation" was established by 11 countries during the Summer Olympic Games. This international organisation was renamed later in 1946 as the present "International Handball Federation". The game got the honour of being an exhibition sport at the Olympics in the years of 1928 and 1932. It became a full-fledged Olympic sport in 1936 Munich Games.

After the popularity of the game, Handball spread all through Europe. Some major adjustments were being considered as necessary in Northern Europe. The reason behind this was mainly the more severe climate. At that time, the need for playing Handball in the indoor became obvious and necessary. The game of Handball became faster and more colourful after people started to play it indoor. The popularity of the game also grew very rapidly throughout Europe. The indoor Handball game was largely based on the Danish game of Haandbold and here it was played as a seven-a-side game. It was also played in a significantly smaller area. The IAHF organised the first ever seven-a-side World Championships in the year of 1938 and then after every four or sometimes three years since the World War II. Since the year of 1995 World Championship held in Iceland, the competition has been held after every two years. Both the Indoor and the Outdoor field versions of Handball were being enjoyed equally till the late 1960`s.

When the World War II was over, the seven-player game of Handball steadily took over from the eleven-player version in Europe and also spread to other continents. The World championship play, which was stopped due to the war, started again in 1954 as the first IHF men`s indoor World Championships and in 1965 the Olympic Committee approved indoor handball for the Olympic Games. With this approval, the game again entered in the game list of the Olympic Games in the year of 1972 in Munich. The Women`s World Championships have been played since 1957. The women`s teams began to take part in the Handball competition in the Olympic Games from the Summer Olympics in 1976. At present the IHF also organises the Women`s and Men`s Junior World Championships.

If anyone is interested about the powerhouses of Handball throughout the world, then here is some information for them. The Scandinavian countries, Germany and the former Soviet Union were traditionally the powerhouses in world Handball. However, their reigning scenario started to change from the last decade of the 20th century as the popularity of the sport has increased in the Southern and Western European countries. It was becoming popular in the Far East as well. In the current scenario, the strongest national teams of the world the teams from France, Denmark, Egypt, and Korea.

Though Handball is not much popular in the English-speaking world till today, but it is played in all parts of America, Canada, Australia, Britain and Ireland at present. The teams from these countries do compete at World and Olympic championships regularly but they are still waiting to be considered amongst the top ranking nations of the world. At present, there are 159 member federations representing the world organisation, IHF and approximately 1,130,000 teams and a total of 31 million players, trainers, officials and referees are attached with the huge organisation.

Handball in India is played by dribbling, passing or bouncing the ball as the players run. During the game the team members stop, throw, bounce and strike the ball with different body parts above the knee. Both the team tries to throw the ball in the net of the opponent team to score goals. The playground used in this game is rectangular shape, and is divided by a central line parallel to the goal lines and two goal areas. Of each goal line, the two goal posts are placed at the centre. The two straight posts are kept equally from the corner of playing area, and the bars, strongly erected to the ground and joined by horizontal cross bars, are positioned 3 metres apart and 2 metres high. It is known as goal post which consists of a net where the ball is thrown.

1. Team Constitution : A team consists of 10 court players and two goalkeepers out of which only seven can be in the play at any time, i.e., six court players and one goalkeeper.

2. Substitute : Any number of substitutions is permitted during the game. They need not notify the time-keeper provided the player being substituted has left the field of play.

3. Duration : The game consists of two periods of 30 minutes each with a ten-minute interval for both men and women above the age of 18. For juniors the two periods are of 25 minutes each and the interval is of 10 minutes.

4. Start : Each period commences with a throw-off by the team entitled to do it.

5. Scoring : Shots for goal must be executed from outside the goal area. A goal is scored if the ball has travelled (in the air or on the ground) completely over the goal line between the posts

6. Rules : (a) A free throw is awarded for various infringements like a faulty handling of the ball, a faulty approach to an opponent, a faulty attitude to the referee and so on. If the place where the free throw awarded is in between the free throw line and the goal area line (9 m and 6 m lines) then the free throw must be taken from the nearest spot outside the free throw line.
(b) A player is allowed to hold the ball for three seconds only. They are allowed to hit the oncoming ball with the fist, but not to throw it up and fist it away.
(c) A player holding the ball may take not more than three steps and must pass it or bounce it with one hand.
(d) Once the ball has been caught or bounced with one hand, no more bouncing is allowed, and it has to be passed within three seconds.
(e) Lobbing, hooking, hugging, tripping, in any way is forbidden.
(f) Indiscipline in the field or court of play or bad behaviour towards the referee is also punishable. If such offences are repeated, a player may be suspended for two minutes, disqualified or excluded.
(g) In three fundamental respects handball differs from football. There are no offside rules, the ball may not be played back into the goal area or to the goalkeeper and lastly no goal melee is possible as no player is allowed inside the goal area.
(h) Only the goalkeeper is allowed to move around freely within the goal area and to come out of the goal area without the ball.

Game Officials in Handball : The game is conducted by two referees, one scorer and a time keeper.

Equipments in handball are essential to the sport and help to participate in the game in a much better way. This is a game that actually represents many different sports. Though there are many different types of handball games, but team handball and American handball are the two most common from of the game. The team handball is played as an Olympic event and consists of two teams with seven players that try to throw the ball into the goal of opponent. It is somewhat similar to a cross between basketball and soccer.

Team Handball Equipment
1. Goals : The goals of handball are about two metres by three metres.

2. Ball : The ball used in handball is similar to soccer and basketball, but it not like the latter game. The ball is soft and is also capable of being easily dribbled and passed. The design of the ball is similar but not as hard.

3. The Field : The field of handball is generally 40 meters long and 20 meters wide. It must have a dividing line in the middle and goal at each ends.

4. Shoes : For handball any particular form of sports shoes is useful, but there are specialised shoes which are available as well. These shoes are not used for national for inter-state meets, but are reserved for international tournaments.

5. Gloves : In a game of handball, gloves play a crucial role to protect the hand while catching a fast flying handball. The game be played without the help of gloves for sure, but the risk of calluses and bruises always remain. There is also a potential danger of injuring the finger or the hands. The gloves meant for handball are specially made to offer protection from the force of the incoming ball, so a typical pair of winter gloves is not adequate at all. As per types of handball gloves; there are two such types: full-coverage and partial-coverage.

For new entrants in the sports are forced to use full coverage gloves that the cover the entire hand, including the finger. This helps to protect the finger while playing the game. Experienced players, who are used to handling the fast moving handball, can also wear the partial coverage gloves that leave the finger unexposed. One of the advantages of exposed fingers is that it offers control and precision when throwing and catching the ball. In order to properly handle the ball, the size and fitting of the gloves is extremely crucial.

6. Protective Eye Wear : This is absolutely for safety purpose. As the game of handball is played with high speed, so the risk to the eye always remains. So in order to avert such untoward incident the protective eye wear must be worn. Goggles are the best eye protections that can be purchased for game of handball. The goggles must be selected with care as and it must ensure best protection to the eye and offer comfort as well.

7. Handballs
Handballs can be purchased from any local stores and the related information can be found on internet as well. The individual can choose the required ball according to his fancy, of course the ball should be meant for the game of handball. It is strictly advised that the balls meant for other sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball, should be avoided; although these balls are somewhat same is weight and size to handball. Using the wrong type of ball increases the risk of injury.

8. Attire : As far as the attire is concerned there is actually no fixed rule about the attire in handball as long as the player is wearing an appropriate one related to the game, such as shorts, t-shirt and proper pair of sports shoes for the process.

Handball in India is not male dominated at all; the game is also played by women. Many women players have made a mark in this game playing at state level of representing India. The women handball was introduced in the year 1976. The handball team of India started well in the first half with 29-11 but lost in the second part. In that game Anita Kumari of India scored notable 13 goals of 21 attempts. A number of measures have been taken to promote the prospect of handball in India.

Handball federation in India is one of the primary bodies that take care of the game in the country. The federation has over the year worked vigorously to make the game popular among the people. It has been instrumental hosting several matches at the national level, allowing potential athlete to showcase their talent. Originated in Greece and later spread to other countries, handball in India gradually became quite a famous sport echoing the true spirit of games. The game of handball is regarded as one of the fastest games in the world handball in India has gained a distinct shape. Handball was one of the early birds at 4th Military world games in October 2007. The handball team of India played a 30-30-draw match with Turkey in Group A of the nine-team competition at the Saroor Nagar Indoor Stadium.

Handball in India is played by dribbling, passing or bouncing the ball as the players run. During the game the team members stop, throw, bounce and strike the ball with different body parts above the knee. Both the team tries to throw the ball in the net of the opponent team to score goals. The game that is very much popular in all over the world and is spreading its popularity rapidly has a lot of debate regarding the origin of the game. Though, many think that the game was played over four thousand years ago in Egypt, ancient Rome and by many other South American countries, some people claim that the game originated in the 11th century. However, the modern version of the game of Handball that everybody knows today actually came into existence only in the ending part of the 19th century in Northern Europe, primarily Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

One of the major role that Handball federation in India plays is to promote and support the game of handball in the country. It organizes matches at both national and international levels, and also plays a crucial role in taking care of the athletes.