Rohtak, Oct 17 (IANS): Maharashtra emerged victorious in both boys and girls categories after defeating Uttarakhand in the Goalball Nationals at the Maharishi Dayanand University here on Monday.

In the men's category, Maharashtra beat Uttarakhand in men's categories with the final score of 10-9 while in the women's category by 10 goals.

"Goalball is a Paralympic sport; it is specially designed for blind people of a certain age. The Goalball Federation of India has been working tirelessly to promote the sport across the country and tap some fine talent in the sport who would go on to bring laurels for the country on the international stage," said Kunal Goyat, the founder of Goalball Federation of India.

"What I learned was that these athletes were not disabled, they were super-abled. The Olympics is where heroes are made, The Paralympics is where the heroes come. I am happy to be able to host the nationals of Goalball here at MDU Rohtak, we have spotted some incredible talent at the tournament and we hope to form a formidable squad that will go on to represent India in the future," he said.

When quizzed on the quality of the tournament, Kunal Goyat said, "All participants were very enthusiastic and dedicated towards their goal, all the players were extremely excited and everyone showed eagerness to win the event."

The most valuable player of the tournament from Uttarakhand Deepak Singh Rawat said, "I am happy with the way I performed and I wish to keep up with my form, Little unfortunate that we couldn't win the nationals but I will like to give full credit to my team and the coaching staff. We fought till the last moment, but in the end, one team had to lose which unfortunately was us."