Jaipur: The 20th All India Hanuman Singh Women’s Handball tournament 2025-26 will get underway at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, state minister of youth affairs, sports and industry, and Olympic silver medallist, will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony slated at 5 pm on Feb 26. Rajasthan State Handball Association (RSHA) president Lalit Kumar Kalal and Indian women’s handball team head coach Sachin Choudhary will also be present on the occasion.Yash Pratap Singh, RSHA honorary secretary, informed that this competition is being organised by RSHA and Hanuman Singh Foundation under the aegis of Handball Association India in the memory of late Hanuman Singh, who was a popular state employee leader and an efficient sports administrator.Top 10 teams of the country including hosts Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Northern Railway, BSF, CISF and LPU-Phagwara are participating in the tourney.He said that all the teams have been divided into two pools.Pool A: Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, CISF, LPU-Phagwara, Delhi.Pool B: BSF, Northern Railway, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab.The competition will be played on a league-cum-knockout basis. The best player of the competition will be awarded the Hanuman Singh Trophy.The matches will start from Thursday morning, which are as follows: LPU-Phagwara vs Delhi, Rajasthan vs Uttar Pradesh, BSF vs Northern Railway, Himachal Pradesh vs Punjab, CISF vs Delhi, BSF vs Haryana, Northern Railway vs Punjab, Rajasthan vs CISF, Uttar Pradesh vs Delhi and Northern Railway vs Himachal Pradesh.Rajasthan team: Pooja Kanwar (captain), Varsha Jakhar, Rukmani Bithu, Rekha, Kashish Sharma, Norti Kumari Mewada, Rekha Chaudhary, Mamta, Kajal Gurjar, Pooja Jat, Kanika Roy, Mansi Rawat, Rekha, Guddi. Coach: Manisha Rathore. Physio: Prerna Harsh, SNC: Paramdeep Singh, Psychologist: Malaika Gupta.
