Odisha and Jharkhand to meet in mens handball final

Odisha will meet Jharkhand in the final of the 18th East Zone Handball Championship in the men's section here at the Patliputra sports complex tomorrow.
Odisha beat host Bihar by 29-28 in a neck to neck fight in the first semi-final match here today while Jharkhand defeated Manipur by 27-12 in an one-sided encounter to move into the final.
At one stage host Bihar took a lead by 24-17 but it failed to maintain the rhythm till the end. Odisha boys combined themselves well and played attacking game in the last 15 minutes and finally took one goal lead in the end of the game.

Rakesh Kumar's nine goals and Akya's eight goals helped Odisha to beat Bihar in a narrow one goal margin. Captain of Bihar team Kanak Kumar scored 7 goals and Varun, Tonu and Munna scored five goals each for the host team.
In the women's section Manipur, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha reached in the last four stage. Final will be played tomorrow on the concluding day of the three-day championship, Braj Kishore Sharma, secretary of the organising committee said.