India's senior women’s handball team set for Asian Games 2026; Junior team to self-fund World U-20 Championships travel

NEW DELHI: Despite prolonged uncertainty caused by the ongoing handball federation dispute in the country, India’s senior women’s handball team will participate in the upcoming Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, while the junior women’s side is set to travel for the World U20 Championships in China next month by paying expenses from their own pockets.TOI has learnt that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has decided to clear the senior women’s team for the multisport continental event after determining that the side fulfils the sports ministry’s eligibility criteria for the Asiad participation. While individual athletes must be ranked among Asia’s top six, teams are required to be among the continent’s top eight in their respective sports. India’s women’s handball team is currently ranked fifth in Asia, meeting the qualification benchmark. The men’s team, however, ranked 10th in Asia, will not be sent.The women’s participation had remained under a cloud due to the existence of two rival factions — Handball Association of India (HAI), headed by Alka Das, and Handball Federation of India (HFI), headed by Mahesh Kumar — both claiming control of the sport in India.During the IOA executive committee (EC) meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the IOA would write to the International Handball Federation (IHF), apprising the world body of the prevailing situation and seeking guidance on which faction it should deal with for the Asian Games selection process. The IOA will also suggest the possibility of forming an ad-hoc committee to conduct trials and select the team if required.“On the IOA website, we have given recognition to HFI. However, it was because of some confusion. It was told to the IOA that both HAI and HFI would merge into one body, but that has not happened. Based on what the world body tells the IOA, we will act accordingly. It’s confirmed that the women’s team will go to the Asian Games,” a source said.The IHF and Asian Handball Federation (AHF) solely recognises Alka Das-led HAI and has reiterated on several occasions that “all matters relating to international representation, entries, and the designation of Team India in handball be routed exclusively through HAI”.Meanwhile, the age-category women’s team, which qualified for the IHF Women’s Junior (U20) World Championships after an impressive performance at the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan, has been denied clearance by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) because neither faction is recognised by the ministry.As a result, players and officials are funding their own participation to avoid India being fined 15,000 euros for withdrawal. India has been drawn alongside Tunisia, Turkiye, Paraguay, Canada, USA and Australia in Pool D.“The flight has been booked. Earlier, we planned to send a 22-member contingent, but to reduce costs we are now sending only 12 players and one coach. Around Rs 3 lakh per athlete will be spent, partly borne by their sports departments and partly by the federation,” a federation source said.India qualified for the event after a strong showing at the Junior Asian Championships in Kazakhstan.