Premier Handball League 2023 Auction: Full List of India & Overseas Players Bought, Complete Squads of 6 Teams

Mumbai, April 25: The players' auction for the upcoming inaugural edition of Premier Handball League 2023 concluded on Sunday (April 23) as a total of 116 players from India and overseas went under the hammer. Every team bought 17 players each.

India International and Domestic Handball talents were up for grabs by the six franchises namely - Delhi Panzers, Garvit Gujarat, Golden Eagles Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra Ironmen, Rajasthan Team (yet to be named), and Telugu Talons - in the bidding process.

Premier Handball League Auction 2023 Highlights

The auctions started with the category of foreign players, the international players represented the Asian Handball Federation amongst other federations and all 18 International players were picked up by the teams.

Each team was allowed to only select one foreign right-back, left-back and goalkeeper respectively. Harender Singh Nain, the Right Back and India International emerged as the most sought-after player in the auction. He was bought by Garvit Gujarat.

In terms of the biggest foreign imports, Telugu Talons went for the services of Andrei Igorevich Nedbailo (Goalkeeper) from Russia - a six-time Russian champion.

Garvit Gujarat picked up Tuliboev Mukhtor (Right Back) from Uzbekistan, the 24-year-old is known for his exploits with the Uzbek team at the Interamnia World Cup wherein they clinched gold.

Golden Eagles Uttar Pradesh also made sure they didn't fall short and went all out to secure the services of Iran's Omid Reza (Goal Keeper), who has represented his country in the IHF Handball World Cup in the last two World Cup editions.

On the other hand, Maharashtra Ironmen secured the services of Iran's Right Back Jalal Kiani. Kiani is a silver medallist with the national team at the Asian Games. Delhi Panzers went for the 20-year-old Artem Martynov (Right Back) from Russia, a 2019 Russian Handball Championship gold medallist.

Lastly, it was the Rajasthan Team (yet to be named) who selected the services of Iraq's left-back Baderaladeen Naser. The second category was reserved for Indian star players and 42 players were up for selection by the franchises.

Under this category, each team was allowed to pick only one player for each of the seven positions i.e. Right Back, Left Back, Centre Back, Right Wing, Left Wing and Pivot.

Top Indian Buys at Premier Handball League 2023 Auction

Amongst the top Indian buys, Telugu Talons went for Raghu Kumara (Pivot) a four-time national champion. Garvit Gujarat secured Harender Singh Nain (Right Back) as their star Indian player, a three-time national champion and a two-time Gold medallist at the Federation Cup Tournaments.

Golden Eagles Uttar Pradesh selected Bhushan Shinde (Right Wing) as their most valuable Indian asset for the league.

For Maharashtra Ironmen, winger Ankit Kumar - a member of Gold Medal Winning Indian Squads for the IHF Trophy- in 2016 & 2018 and a Silver medallist at the 2019 South Asian Games was the most valuable player.

Delhi Panzers went for Pivot Mintu Sardar again a three-time national champion and lastly, it was Rajasthan who selected Robin Singh (Left Back) - a four-time national champion as their most valuable Indian star player.

The final category of the day was called Role Players and 56 domestic Indian players were a part of the same. 42 out of the 56 were picked.

Telugu Talons' most valuable in this category was Rahul Nain (Pivot). Garvit Gujarat went with Right Back - Surender Kumar, while Golden Eagles selected Sanchit Gupta (Right Wing).

Mohit Punia (Right Back) joined Maharashtra Ironmen. Delhi Panzers went with youth and picked up the 20-year-old Pivot Deepak and lastly, Rajasthan secured Mohit Ghanghas (Left Back) as their biggest player in the Role Players category.

Complete List of Players Sold at the Premier Handball League 2023 Auction and Full Squads

The Premier Handball League (PHL), is sanctioned by the South Asian Handball Federation and affiliated with the Asian Handball Federation (AHF). The inaugural season of the Premier Handball League is set to kick off on June 8 and run until June 25, 2023, which will be broadcast on the Viacom18 network on JioCinema, Sports 18-1 (HD & SD) and Sports 18 Khel.

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