Cyclists kick off Indian gold rush

The women’s team dominated the race from the beginning as they clocked 44 minutes 22.15 seconds to brush aside the feeble challenge from Pakistan’s Ayesha Amin, Misbah Mushta Ali, Rahila Banu and Sidra Sadaf, who finished second in 47:04.06.

Sri Lankans Lasanthi Krishna, Nilaka Shyamal, Nirushani Perera and Pushpo Rani timed 47:07.08 to claim bronze.

Indian hockey team completely dominated their neighbours Nepal at the Moulana Bhashani Stadium. Ajitesh Roy led from the front banging five goals in the 15th, 58th, 59th, 66th and 68th minutes of the match.

Forwards Yuvraj Walmiki and Mohammed Aamir Khan slammed the board thrice each after India drew first blood in the 40th second through Walmiki, who went on to score two more in the ninth and 64th minutes.

Mohammed Aamir banged in three goals in the seventh, 20th and 57th minutes of the match. Pramod Kumar, V Raghunath and Hamza Mujtaba also chipped in with good performance.

Veteran defender Raghunath converted penalty corners in the 13th and 50th minutes, while forward Pramod sounded the board in the 17th and 44th minutes.
Forward Mujtaba also converted two penalty corners in the 28th and and 52nd minutes as the Indians goal glut continued against the Nepalese.
Belsajar Horo (10th), Innocent Kulu (31th), Roshan Minz (40th) and Dharamvir Singh (69th) rounded up the scoreline.

In another match, hosts Bangladesh began on a winning note, beating Sri Lanka 3-1 in a tight contest.

Jangra and Nandrajog assured India of at least one medal by making the last four in the squash event at Dhaka Club.

In the final-four on Sunday, Jangra will meet world number 19 Aamir Atlas Khan of Pakistan and Nandrajog will face the challenge from Farhan Mahboob.Jangra beat Sri Lanka’s Naveen and Nandrajog got the better of Swaresh, both with an identical 3-1 scoreline in the quarters.

In badminton, both Indian men’s and women’s players got byes to the semifinal. In the men’s semifinal, India will take on hosts Bangladesh while Sri Lanka will face Nepal.

In the women’s section, India and Nepal will take on each other.
The Indian volleyball side too had a winning start when they overcame Sri Lanka 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19 in Mirpur.