The India handball team’s Asian Games campaign got off to a sad start on Saturday as they lost their opening Group D match to Chinese Taipei, 20-39. (Live Blog | Schedule | Medal Count for Day 1The Indians fell behind 11–24 at the end of the first half of the 30-minute game and trailed 9–15 in the second. It was a rather one-sided match. (Jitu Rai wins gold in the Asian Games.
With five goals in nine tries, Mahesh Vijay led the Indians in scoring, followed by Manpreet Singh Bassi, Vasu Binu, and Avin Khatkar with three apiece. (Jitu Rai dazzles with six consecutive world medals Yi-Fan Chiu, who made eight of his nine attempts at goal for Taipei, took center stage. Hsin-Wei Huang and Hui-Hsiung Wang each scored four goals, while Hsien-Chang Chao scored five.
Chinese Taipei recorded 61 shots on goal overall, a significant majority compared to India’s 45 efforts. With 19 saves from its goalkeepers, the Taipei team’s defense was also much stronger.
Only nine of the 48 shots that were aimed at the Indian goalkeepers were, however, five goals in nine attempts successful in stopping them.