Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Dec 14: Vilona D’Cunha from Ujire represented Karnataka in the 34th Junior National Throwball Championship 2024 held at Indore from December 9 to 12 and emerged as a winner.

Vilona is the daughter of Richard D’Cunha and Anitha D’Souza, residents of Halakke, Ujire. She is currently studying at St Aloysius Deemed-to-be University, Mangaluru. Previously, she pursued her education at SDM PUC, Ujire, and Anugraha English Medium School, Ujire.

Vilona began her throwball journey under the guidance of Vasanth, physical education teacher at Anugraha English Medium School, and later honed her skills under Sandesh Poonja at SDM PUC, Ujire. She also trained with coaches Siyak and Dheeraj for state-level tournaments. At St Aloysius Deemed-to-be University, she is now guided by Arun and Nithisha.

For the Karnataka team, Vilona trained under the Throwball Association of Karnataka, led by its president, Prakash E, with coaching provided by Harsha and Pramod.

Apart from Vilona, five other girls from the district also represented Karnataka in the championship.

In the finals, Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu after a closely contested match. Although Karnataka lost the first set, they bounced back to win the second, leading the game into the decisive final set, which Karnataka secured with a score of 19-25.

"The competition was not very rough, though we gave a good fight to emerge as winners," said Vilona.

Vilona also received the ‘Player of the Match’ award for her outstanding performance in the final match against Tamil Nadu.