THE unpredictable Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) went on a roller-coaster ride to capture the Inti Open Handball Championship at the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Sports Arena in Kuala Lumpur recently.
In the preliminary stages, UPM flexed their domination and remained unbeaten over three matches to stay at the top of the table and move into the last four.
They defeated Universiti Perta-hanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) 7-4 and 10-7 respectively before wrapping up their group fixtures with another victory over hosts’ top side Inti A (17-10).
Taste of success: The UPM line-up celebrating their recent victory at Inti Open Handball Championship. However, UPM had to slog for a narrow 11-10 win over Taylor’s to book a hard-earned place in the final.
In the championship encounter, UPM gave a more convincing display in ending the campaign of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) from Kelantan 13-8.
In the playoff for third, UM edged Taylor’s 10-3.
For the recent one-day tournament, a total of eight sides joined the fray and the two other teams were UPNM B and Inti B.
Tournament co-ordinator Ng Num Thiam admitted the response was not as encouraging with two teams pulling out from the meet.
“Initially, we were expecting a total of 12 teams to complete. The main aim of the tournament is to attract more teams from the private universities and colleges to join the fray.
“It will be great for the development of the game introducing the game to more private tertiary education institutions. They also need to form a competition of their own. At the moment, they (private universities and colleges) are struggling and have a lot of catching up to do in bridging the gap. Several private university and college teams are very keen. And they are taking the lead in creating the awareness and promoting handball,” said Num Thiam.
Although both the Inti entries — A and B — ended their campaign without a win, their handball club members showed plenty of enthusiasm to volunteer and assist in managing the tournament.
“We only booked the tournament venue and provided them with the equipment. They ran the whole show on their own,” Num Thiam added.
Meanwhile, a total of 16 teams are expected to take part in the men’s contest of the Putrajaya Cup scheduled at the (OCM) Sports Arena on Dec 18.
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