Credit: Twitter
Indian men's football team suffered a 5-1 thumping loss against China in the Asian Games 2023 opener at the Huanglong Sports Centre in Hangzhou. The hosts started off the fixture with a bang and tested Gurmeet with a strike in the sixth minute before drawing first blood 11 minutes later thanks to Gao Tianyi.
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But the Indian gloveman redeemed himself as he denied the Chinese captain Zhu Chenjie from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute. After a gruelling 22 minutes of high-energy football, Rahul KP equalised for India with a stunning solo run along the right touchline before rifling a shot in at the near post past the Chinese keeper.
Despite this goal, things turned bad to worse for the Blue Tigers as the Chinese managed to score four more goals, concluding a dominant display against a jet-lagged Indian team. Dai Weijun (51' ), Tao Qianglong (72') (75') and Hao Fang ( 90+2' ) quadrupled China's lead to give them an emphatic victory in the opening encounter.
Indian Women's Cricket team supports Blue Tigers
Supporting the Men's football team, the Indian Women's cricket team was present at the Huanglong Sports Centre in Hangzhou, supporting the Blue Tigers. Indian women's captain for the first two games, Smriti Mandhana shared Instagram stories with fellow Indian players like Harmanpreet Kaur, Devika Vaidya and Jemimah Rodrigues.
