LUCKNOW, Nov. 14 -- As many as five players from Uttar Pradesh are in the race for a berth in the Indian team for the upcoming FIH Junior Men's World Cup, scheduled to be played at Madurai and Chennai from November 28 to December 10. The players included Shardanand Tewari, Aamir Ali (both from Lucknow), Ajeet Yadav, Chandan Yadav (both from Karampur) and Saurabh Anand Kushwah (Jhansi). An official announcement of the 18-member team is likely to be made in a day or two. After making a podium finish for the first time in 1997 at Milton Keynes when India lost to Australia 2-3 in the final, India won their maiden title here in Lucknow in 2016, defeating Belgium 2-1. Besides this, India finished fourth in the prestigious event thrice in 2005, 2021 and 2023. Gymnasts of KD Singh Babu Stadium staged a fine show and won 12 medals, including six gold at the Viva Vibgyor Season 17 Championship here on Thursday. Coach Ravikant Yadav states that his trainees excelled in all age categories and brought laurels. The medal winners included, Krishna Choudhary, Adya Singh, Anshika Agarwal, Veronica Verma, Yashvi, Dev Dixit, Rishabh Pandey, Arna Sonkar, Dikshant Tyagi, Viraj Bhatia, Reyansh Saxena, Somik, Arna and Manvi Tandon. Lucknow men won the State Level Senior Men's Handball Championship, defeating Azamgarh 36-28 in Moradabad on Thursday. Lucknow men were leading 17-15 at halftime. Led by Mohit Yadav, Lucknow men especially Vikrant and Mankesh scored the most goals, with eighth goals each. Nihal scored six, Ankit Chaudhary scored five, while Avinash Yadav and Shahrukh scored three goals each. For Azamgarh, Manish (5), Pradeep (4), and Harinath and Abhishek (3 goals each) were the main scorers....