Japan outplay India in women’s handball

Hangzhou: The Indian women’s handball team began their Asian Games campaign on a losing note, losing to Japan 13-41 in their group B clash here on Monday.

Menika, who netted four goals, was the sole bright spot for India giving them a fourth minute lead.

But thereafter it was all about Japan as they fired on all cylinders to race to a 21-4 lead after 30 minutes.

Priyank and P Thakur struck three goals each, while M Sharma, Bhawana and S Thakur scored one each for India.

For Japan, S Ishikawa was the leading goal-scorer (seven). Y Kitahara (5), S Hattori (5), K Ozaki (4), N Sahara (4), Y Yoshidome (3), N Aizawa (3), R Dan (3), H Matsumoto (3), A Ohmatsuzawa (2) and M Hatsumi (2) were the other goal scorers for Japan.