Men's kabaddi team storms into last four

The Indian men’s kabaddi team romped past Thailand 66-27 to march into the semifinals of the Asian Games here on Monday.

With Pakistan also notching up their second straight victory with a 24-11 defeat of Ban­gladesh, India joined their arch-rivals in the last-four stage. Both India, the seven-time gold medallists, and Pakistan will lock horns in the final Group A game on Tuesday in what could a teaser for the final clash.

Hoopsters win

The women’s basketball team put their crushing quarterfinal disappointment behind them, beating Mongolia 68-50 in the 5-8th place classification match.While the first quarter was a closely fought affair with India narrowly ahead 19-14, they strung together a strong show in the second, opening up a 33-23 lead. They sunk 22 points in the third before posting a comfortable 68-50 win.

Women paddlers shine

The women’s table tennis enjoyed a fine outing on Monday with Ankita Das entering the last-32 of the singles competition and then pairing up with Poulomi Ghatak to march into the pre-quarterfinals of the doubles section.

Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal also made it to the doubles’ last-16.Results: Women’s doubles, last-64: Ankita Das (Ind) bt Alshammari Menwah (Kuw) 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9.

Women’s doubles, last-32: Poulomi Ghatak/ Ankita Das (Ind) bt Shabnam Bilal/ Rahila Kashif (Pak) 11-5, 11-1, 11-7; Madhurika Patkar/ Neha Aggarwal (Ind) bt Shiura Shareef/ Aishnath Nisa (Mdv) 11-3, 11-6, 11-2. Mixed doubles, last-32: Anthony Amalraj/ Madhurika Patkar (Ind) bt Enkhjin Barkhas/ Munkh Orgil Batbayar (Mgl) 12-10, 11-3, 11-6; Padasak Tanviriyachakul/ Suthasini Sawettabut (Tha) bt Achanta Sharath Kamal/ Poulomi Ghatak (Ind) 11-6, 11-9, 16-14.