Indian men lose to Bahrain in handball

Jakarta, August 16

The Indian men’s handball team went down 25-32 to Bahrain in a Group D preliminary match of the Asian Games here on Wednesday. Deepak Ahlawat scored six goals while Karamjeet Singh scored five. Adithya Nagaraj and Harender Singh scored four goals. India had lost to Chinese Taipei 18-28 in their opening preliminary encounter.

Unified Korean women’s basketball team wins 

Three North Korean basketball players were part of a unified Korean women’s basketball team that defeated Indonesia 108-40 on Wednesday at the Asian Games.

South Korean player Park Hyejin said centre Ro Suk Yong, guard Jang Mi Gyong and guard Kim Hye Yon joined nine others from the South to form the unified team last month.

“The joint training period that we had to go through ahead the games was very short and this is certainly a particular challenge for us, but that was not an obstacle because we are all very happy with this unification,” Park said. “There are no significant difficulties among us so far, because in fact we are from the same nation and culture. We have no difficulty communicating because our language is same.”

Ro scored 22 points while Kim added 14 against hosts Indonesia. 

The North Korean players immediately went to the changing room after the game. The arena was half-filled for the game, with about 100 Korean fans wearing white T-shirts and hats, some beating traditional drums and others waving flags. Basketball is one of three sports in which the Koreas will field joint squads at the Asian Games, along with rowing and canoeing. South Korea is the defending Asian Games champion in women’s basketball.

“Our target for now is to win a gold medal. We don’t think about our target after this, we are currently focusing on the Asian Games,” Park said. “We do hope that the unified Korea team can continue, not only in basketball, but also in other sports and this will lead to unification in other fields.” 

Indian flag raised at village

The tri-colour today unfurled at the Asian Games athletes village following a simple flag-hoisting ceremony, attended by India’s men’s hockey players and wrestlers. Since hockey players and wresters were the first ones to land here, only they could attend the ceremony as shuttlers and kabaddi players landed in the Indonesain capital this afternoon via Singapore. — Agencies