Premier Handball League: All you need to know about Garvit Gujarat

The Garvit Gujarat team will be among the six franchise teams that will be competing in the inaugural season of the Premier Handball League (PHL) in June 2023, as the fastest Olympic sport gets its global league based in India.

Gujarat has a huge fan following for handball and the Garvit Gujarat team will be looking to capitalize on that support base to get an edge over the other five teams.

The Garvit Gujarat team is owned by a former national handball player Roop Kumar Naidu, who serves as the Founder and Director of Garvit Sports Private Limited (GSPL). "I am from the grassroots of this sport, I know the pulse of handball. It is the fastest team sport in the Olympics. The sport is very thrilling, it requires stamina, agility, flexibility, explosive power, jump, and ability to take body contact," Naidu told The Bridge.

The squads have 17 players, of which three are foreign players. There will be seven players on the court at a time, including the goalkeeper. There will be rolling substitutions.

The three foreign players Garvit Gujarat have picked up in the auction are 24-year-old Tuliboew Mukhtor (right back) from Uzbekistan, the 34-year-old Iranian goalkeeper Farhad Shafiei Alavijeh and 21-year-old Thai left-back Atsawamethee Barameechuay.

Mukhtor is known for his exploits with the national team at the Interamnia World Cup, where Uzbekistan won the gold medal. Goalkeeper Farhad Shafiei Alavijeh has won seven gold medals in the Iran Handball Super League. He was also a member of the Iranian national team for five years, having won several international medals. Barameechuay, the young left back, has also been part of the Thailand international team, like the gold medal-winning team in Lundaspelen A playoff in Sweden in 2019.

Garvit Gujarat handball team is mentored and coached by Head Coach Shashimohan Dhumal.

Here is a list of players at their disposal:

Squad

Goalkeepers – Farhad Shafiei Alavijeh, Mandeep Lochab, Dinesh

Backs – Tuliboew Mukhtor, Atsawamethee Barameechuay, Mohit Ghanghas, Tarun Thakur, Harender Singh Nain, Sachin Singh, Sivaprasad Nair, Surender Kumar

Wingers – Aman Khiche, Amit Ghanghas, Naveen Panghal, Mohammed Shuja Ur Rehman

Pivot – Ravinder Pal Singh, Avin Khatkar

Coach – MC Venugopal

Assistant Coach – Praveen Kumar Singh

Foreign Players – Farhad Shafiei Alavijeh, Tuliboew Muklhtor, Atsawamethee Barameechuay.

The inaugural season of the Premier Handball League is set to kick off on June 8 and run until June 25, 2023. It will be broadcast on the Viacom18 network on JioCinema, Sports 18-1 (HD & SD), and Sports 18 Khel.