Thaindian News

Guangzhou, Nov 17 (IANS) The Indian men’s hockey team decimated Bangladesh 9-0 Wednesday during an otherwise disappointing morning on the fifth day of competitions at the Asian Games.

Swimmer Virdhaval Khade, who won a historic bronze medal Tuesday, won the third heat in the 100 metres freestyle event but failed to qualify for the finals.

Arvind Bhat moved into the pre-quarters of the men’s badminton after receiving a walkover from Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne in his first round match. However, Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu Sivarajan lost to Japan’s Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota in the mixed doubles event and crashed out of the competition.

Jasvant lost a close fight against Indonesian Yulius Fernado 5:6 to bow out of the men’s 74 kg taekwondo event.

In the hockey encounter, Sandeep Singh converted four penalty corners, Tushar Khandekar slotted two goals, while Shivendra Singh, Raj Pal Singh and Dharamvir Singh scored one each. India were leading 3-0 in the breather.

India had defeated Hong Kong 7-0 in their first match. They will take on Pakistan in their next match Saturday.

Swimmer Khade clocked 51.25 seconds to win the heat while his compatriot Aaron Agnel DSouza was second with a timing of 52.71 secs at the Aoti Aquatics Center.

The Indian duo failed to qualify for the final as their timing was way below the qualifying mark.

Khade had won the bronze in the men’s 50 metres butterfly here Tuesday. His medal was the first for India in swimming after 24 years.

Balan-Sivarajan lost 22-20, 7-21 and 12-21 in the first round at the Tianhe Gymnasium in an encounter that lasted 45 minutes.

In other matches of the day, Parupalli Kashyap will face Tien Minh Nguyen in the men’s singles first round and in women’s section Saina Nehwal will open her campaign against Malaysian Lydia Cheah and Aditi Mutatkar will face Japanese Eriko Hirose.

Later in the day, Sivarajan will team up with Akshay Dewalkar against South Korean pair of Yongdae Lee and Jaesung Chung in the first round of men’s doubles. Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas will face Malaysia’s Kien Keat Koo and Boon Teang Hoon in their first round.

Jasvant was leading for most part of the bout but the Indonesian scored in the dying minutes to turn the match in his favour at the Guangdong Gymnasium.

Earlier in the day, the Indian got the better of Sawatvilay Phimmaosne of Laos 9:7 in the first round.

Latika Bhandari in women’s 53 kg, Shantibala Devi in 57 kg and P. Anand in men’s 80 kg will play their first round bouts Thursday.