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Indian handball athlete Ankit Kumar recently opened up on the exhilarating journey that saw him reach the pinnacle of the sport.
Ankit was the skipper of the Indian Junior Team in 2018 and has an envious list of achievements. He is currently representing Maharashtra Ironmen at the Premier Handball League.
The right winger has played a crucial role for his team and at the halfway stage of the league, the team is sitting atop the points table and will be aiming to maintain their position.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Ankit revealed how he got into the sport, the efforts that go behind training and practicing for the sport, the impact of the pandemic, and his interactions with foreign players.
Read excerpts from the interview below.
Q: Let's start with your journey. How did you get into the sport? How has the experience been?
A: My journey started in 2011. Handball was a sport in my school and there has been an international player who passed out from my school. I was inspired by him. I initially did not have too much of an interest in handball - I played hockey for two years prior to this.
Our school's hockey team was disbanded, resulting in handball being the only sport remaining. One of my brothers had represented India at the international level and I got inspired by him. That's how I got involved in the sport in 2011. I started with District, then moved on to State and National levels.
In 2012, I played the U-12 Nationals and proceeded to play U-14, U-16 and U-19. In 2016, I represented India at the Junior Asian Championships. The journey has been fantastic.
I continue to represent India and first time have gotten the opportunity to play at PHL. I am enjoying it and I feel people are getting aware of the sport.
Earlier people did not have knowledge about this sport. They used to ask us 'what sport is this?' and 'how is it played?' Now there is some hope that people will get to know about it and people will take an interest in it.
Q: Handball is a very physically demanding sport. How do you maintain the high fitness standards required? What is the role of the coach in this?
A: There is a lot of exercise. There is physical fitness and endurance training. A person needs to be physically prepared to be a part of a team. In a team, there is a lot of pressure on the coach to handle the team.
In handball, seven players take the field. Coaches know which player to play in which position and how to set the side. In a team game, every person has their responsibilities.
Q: How big of an impact did the pandemic have on handball action? What did you focus on during the lockdown?
A: The entire nation was closed. Sportspersons faced a lot of difficulties. For two years, our nationals stopped nor was there any tour. We just stayed at home and did our physical fitness. There wasn't any training.
Once everything opened up, we started training again. There has been a difference obviously to our games as there were no matches going on. It was God's wish. It happened to everyone, not a single person.
Q: How is the sport of handball growing in India? How big of a role is the Premier Handball League playing?
A: We are getting positive vibes about the growth of the sport. Since the past couple of years, there has been an improvement in Indian handball. We won the Gold in the women's Asian Championships and qualified for the World Championships.
Our men's team went to Europe and for the first time, we qualified for the semi-finals for the first time. We used to finish in the top ten or top twelve. This sport is widely played there so competing there is a tough task for us.
Now there is this league and we can learn about the foreign players' techniques. There will be a lot of opportunities. We will get a lot of exposure and it will be crucial as the Asian Games are coming up. If any tournaments come after this, the results will be positive for us.
Q: How have the interactions been with the foreign players who are a part of the Maharashtra Ironmen squad?
A: We used to meet a lot of players on our tours but never got a chance to actually play against them. In our team, there are a lot of high-quality foreign players. They are top-level athletes. We are getting to learn a lot from them. The things we did not know, we are able to learn from them. We get to learn a lot. We will involve them in our game.
