South Asia's 1st Professional Women's Handball League Unveiled in India

South Asia's first professional Women's Handball League (WHL) was unveiled on 6 February 2024 in New Delhi. A total of six teams would participate in this first professional women's handball league.

WHL launch possible by January 2025:

• South Asia's first professional women's handball league (WHL) is targeted to be launched by January 2025.
• Apart from India, star players from Asia, Europe and Africa will participate in this first women's professional handball league of South Asia.
• The WHL Logo was also unveiled at an event in New Delhi on 6 February 2024.

Organizer of WHL:

• This league will be organized under the auspices of South Asian Handball Federation and Asian Handball Federation in collaboration with Indian Handball Association.
• Pavna Sports Ventures is the promoter of the WHL league. Priya Jain is the executive director of Pavna Sports Venture.
• The league chairman of the Indian Handball Association and general secretary of the South Asian Handball Federation is Anandeshwar Pandey.
• The Vice President of the International Handball Federation is Bader Mohammed Al Tayeb.

Handball will get a boost among Indian women:

• Currently more than three lakh girls are playing handball in India. The WHL will provide them with important opportunities. This will improve the performance of the Indian women's team. Regular organization of WHL will see the Indian women's team playing in the 2032 Olympics and winning medals.
• Indian women's handball team captain Jyoti Shukla expressed hope that the players will gain experience from this league. They will get an opportunity to play with international players.
• Currently the Indian handball women's team is ranked fifth in Asia.
• Last year in 2023, the Indian women's team won the prestigious 'Asian President's Cup' title held in Jordan for the first time.

Performance of Indian women's handball team:

• The Indian women's team has performed very well in recent times. With its performance it has left the men's team behind and popularized the game.
• With the organization of WHL, it is expected that the performance of the Indian women's team on the international stage will improve further.

About Pavna Sports Venture:

• Pavna Sports Venture has been a leading group in promoting various sports in India. Pavna Sports has been promoting women sports activities in India from time to time.
• In this sequence, South Asia's first professional Women's Handball League (WHL) is going to be organized in India in January 2025.
• Rs 100+ crore will be strategically allocated over the next 3 years to boost grassroots level development of sports in India.
• The executive director of Pavna Industries and chairperson of Pavna Sports Venture is Priya Jain. 
• As a business group, Pavna Sports Venture is a strong supporter of women empowerment.