9-0 hockey victory against Bangladesh on disappointing Asiad day (Evening Lead)

GUANGZHOU - The Indian men’s hockey team demolished Bangladesh 9-0 Wednesday but there was little else for sports enthusiasts to cheer on the fifth day of competitions at the Asian Games.

The Indian men advanced while the women faltered in the first round of tennis doubles.

The women’s hockey team lost 0-1 to South Korea while the Indian men went down fighting 1-2 and the women lost 0-3 to China in the preliminary stages of the sepaktakraw team event.

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.

It turned out to be another uneventful day for India in cue sports as Indira Gowda lost 4-5 to Thuy Vi Duon of Vietnam in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s eight-ball pool singles event.

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.

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

Ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh struck four goals as India warmed up for arch-rivals Pakistan with the demolition of Bangladesh in their second men’s hockey group B match.

Sandeep converted four of his five penalty corners (13th minute, 47, 63, 66), and Tushar Khandekar (2, 39) slotted a brace, while Shivendra Singh (22), Raj Pal Singh (37) and Dharamvir Singh (69) scored one each. India were leading 3-0 at the breather.

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

The win Wednesday has put India at the top of the table with six points.

Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan swept aside Hong Kong’s Michael Xiaopeng Lai and Cheuk Wai Jack Hui 6-1, 6-3. They next meet tough opponents in Jae Min Seol and Young Jun Kim of South Korea.

Rushmi Chakravarthi and Poojashree Venkatesha went down to Japanese Ryoko Fuda and Misaki Doi 3-6, 1-6 in 53 minutes in the women’ doubles.

The sixth-seeded Indian men pair of Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh got a bye in the first round and next play Philippines’ Ruben Jr. Gonzales and Johnny Arcilla for a place among the last eight.

The other Indian women pair of Nirupama Sanjeev and Tara Iyer got a bye in the first round and faces fifth-seeded Chinese Shengnan Sun and Shuai Zhang for a place in the quarterfinals.

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.

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.