Jaipur: Hosts University of Rajasthan started their campaign on a rousing note on the opening day of the All India Inter-University Handball Men tournament at the University Sports Complex here on Tuesday.The five-day tourney is being organised by the University of Rajasthan Sports Board in which top sixteen teams from across the country are participating.Dominating from the word go, University of Rajasthan defeated LN Mithila University 45-26 in a one-sided encounter. At half-time, the hosts were leading comfortably by 26-14. Mohit was the top-scorer with ten goals. Ashish contributed six, while Sumit and Devendra slammed five goals each. For LN Mithila, Deepak Kumar waged a lone battle with seven goals.In other league matches, LPU, Phagwara beat VBS, Purbanchal by 16 goals, UEM Jaipur outclassed Manipur University by 11 goals, VIT Vellore trounced GNDU, Amritsar, KAHE, Coimbatore dismissed LNIPE Gwalior by 6 goals, while Annamalai Univ, Chidambaram got the better of HP Univ by 4 goals.In an exciting outing, Saurashtra Univ, Rajkot edged past Periyar Univ by a solitary goal. In the last game of the day, Punjab Univ, Patiala prevailed over UOS and Technology, Meghalaya 38-24.Earlier, para swimmer and Padmashree awardee Dr Satyendra Singh Lohiya, former Olympian and Arjuna awardee Gopal Saini and vice-chancellor Prof Alpana Kateja inaugurated the tournament.Organising secretary Dr Pratibha Singh Ratnu, secretary, sports board, Kuldeep Dhankar, chairman, Univ sports board, tournament technical director Subrat Saini and AIU observer Harish B Raba were also present on the occasion. S L Pareek conducted the proceedings, while Pramod Singh proposed a vote of thanks.
