Exclusive: 'Fast and exciting Premier Handball League will capture the imagination of Indian sports fans'

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New Delhi, Feb 27: The Premier Handball League is the latest addition to the ever-increasing home-grown leagues in India. After cricket, football, kabaddi, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, and kho kho, the Indian audiences will get to witness top handball players locking horns in the inaugural edition in a completely new and engaging format.

The first season of the professional handball tournament will kick off in June with an aim to familiarise the Indian audience with the sport and create a niche for it.

When is Premier Handball League 2023 Starting?

The Premier Handball League - which will be held between June 8 and 25 - also aims to provide a platform for Indian handball players to showcase their talents to a wider audience and elevate their game to the next level by rubbing shoulders with the best names in the sport.

The International Handball Federation has recognised India as the next big destination for Handball. Therefore, the Handball Association India and South Asian Handball Federation amplified the efforts of Bluesport Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. by giving a go-ahead for the tournament.

Premier Handball League Broadcasters

Viacom18 will showcase the Premier Handball League which is the first professional handball league in India. The first-of-its-kind competition is associated with the South Asian Handball Federation and backed by the Asian Handball Federation and the International Handball Federation.

Widely recognised as the fastest Olympic Sport, Handball has a strong grassroots presence in India. Handball's popularity at the grassroots level is due to the tireless efforts of the Handball Association of India. They have ensured that the national team's ranking at the global level has been consistently rising.

While responding to MyKhel, Manu Agrawal, Founder and CEO, Bluesport Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., explained how Premier Handball League will give a major push to the sport in the country and how it has all the ingredients of becoming an instant hit with the audience, just like Pro Kabaddi League.

Mr Agrawal assered that the tournament faces no threat to or from other non-cricket leagues in the country, adding India is moving towards a more mature sports culture.

Here are the excerpts:

Question: Handball has long been awaiting a push, how do you feel the Premier Handball League is going to make difference?

Ans: Handball is one of the most exciting sports that is played in the Olympics. Regarded as the fastest Olympic sport, with the Premier Handball league we intend to bring Europe's second most popular sport closer to Indian sports and showcase the true potential of the Indian handball players to the nation. In the inaugural season, our mission is to have a clear goal in perspective i.e. to educate sports lovers about this enthralling sport.

The sport has huge potential and, in our build-up, we have clearly seen that there is no dearth of talent. Now, it is our responsibility to build a strong foundation for the sport in the country at the same time ensure that the league receives eyeballs via all possible mediums. I am sure that the league will capture the imagination of Indian sports fans.

Premier Handball League is going to introduce Europe's second most popular sport after soccer to Indian sports lovers, we are going ahead with a mission to introduce and educate the audiences to this spectacular action-packed sports entertainment called Handball.

The sport itself has unlimited potential and we have partnered with all the right elements to make this league a success, the only push it needs is coverage, and with the launch of the Premier Handball League, this much-needed push will be delivered. Everything else will fall into place once this league captures the attention of sports lovers in this country, which I am sure it will do.

Question: We have already read in your recent announcement about the basic format of the league. Can elaborate on this?

Ans: The inaugural season of the Premier Handball League shall feature six teams. Each team will represent a state and comprise 14 Indian players and 3 international players. There will be 30 round-robin matches where each team shall play other teams twice. Each team shall play 10 matches in total, before the knockout matches. The top four teams will qualify for the Semi-Finals and Semi Final winner will play in the Final.

Question: Viacom18 partnership is a huge boost to the league considering they have been lapping up major rights? How do you see the partnership panning out?

Ans: Introducing and educating sports lovers of this country to the magnificent sport of Handball is our primary objective and the partnership with Viacom18 is definitely going to be a huge push in this direction as you rightly mentioned. OTT platforms are growing rapidly in terms of viewership and we believe that streaming of Premier Handball League on Jio Cinema is definitely going to extrapolate the league's viewership.

In addition, television viewers will also get an advantage with Viacom18's free-to-air channel Sports18 Khel apart from the status quo. The way Viacom18 has been acquiring rights for not only cricket but for other spots as well, there is a clear indication that non-cricket sports have finally received a platform which is going to push all sports. We believe that this partnership will be one of the most important pieces in the puzzle to building a strong league.

Question: While Handball is known to be a sport of the hinterland of India, how do you plan to position it as a mass sport? Knowing that it will be in competition against established indigenous leagues like Kabaddi?

Ans: Handball is played throughout the country. The perception comes from the fact that handball has never been broadcasted at a large scale or rather it has hardly ever found the limelight apart from the Asian Games or Olympics where we see glimpses of the important matches. I am confident that once the sports fans watch the matches in Premier Handball League, they will be hooked to the sport for life.

It has all the elements required for a great indoor sport: speed, stamina, teamwork, running and jumping, strategy making and skills. Also, with the Indian Handball team's performance getting better at the international stage, Handball is set to emotionally engage sports lovers and soon gain the positioning of a mass sport.

I would not say that we are competing against Kabaddi but rather we are an addition to the repertoire of non-cricket sports which have a huge potential to make it big as Kabaddi has. Kabaddi has already successfully introduced the Indian audience to an indoor sport executed in a professional manner. With Kabaddi, Volleyball and now Handball, it's an exciting moment where we are moving towards a more mature sports culture.

Question: The league was initially supposed to happen in 2022 but didn't take off, how has your approach changed this year?

Ans: While our vision for the Premier Handball League remains the same as the past year, we have made some major upgrades to make Premier Handball League a truly international handball league. We have adopted all the technical procedures practised by the International Handball Federation, with an increased presence and direct supervision of the Asian Handball Federation.

Currently, no other international sport under a league format in India is played with the kind of alignment we have done with the international governing bodies. This is set to boost not only the sport of Handball in India but also Indian Handball internationally.

The debut season of the Premier Handball League will witness six teams clashing with each other in a round-robin format consisting of 30 matches, followed by three knockout matches to determine the ultimate champion.

The 33 matches will be spread over 18 days, and each team will have a minimum of 10 matches. Each squad will consist of 17 players, made up of 14 Indian players and three foreigners.