Asian Aquatics Championships | Indian men’s water polo team makes an early exit; women's squad loses to Uzbekistan

Ahmedabad: Indian men’s water polo team slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat and made an early exit from the title run of the Asian Aquatics Championships here on Tuesday. The women’s team suffered a lopsided 4-23 loss to Uzbekistan in their second group game.

The men’s team, on the other hand, lost 11-35 to World No. 11 Japan in their last Group B match, ending their campaign with four losses in four games while conceding 94 goals. The latest defeat was their worst so far in terms of goals conceded after lopsided losses to Singapore, Thailand and Kazakhstan. All the remaining four nations in the group qualified for quarterfinals and also for next year’s Asian Games.

The only consolation from the match for India was a quartet of goal by Ankit Prasad while team’s main forward Bhagesh Kuthe, who finished the leading Indian goalscorer with seven goals, could only score once before getting a permanent suspension after three major fouls by the fourth quarter.

However, such was the Japanese stranglehold over the underdogs as all 11 of their outfield players (including rolling substitutes) scored a goal at least. Jun Lowrey celebrated a double hat-trick while their captain Ura Enishi and wing forward Yuki Moriya scored four goals each. Three other players scored a hat-trick too.

Japan, who have fielded their junior team, asserted their superiority from the word go as they decided the fate of the game by the end of the first quarter. The heavyweights took 10-2 lead while Indians lacked in all the departments. Most telling was the goal to shot conversion, where Japan showed 55 per cent efficiency in the first quarter in comparison to hosts’ 33 per cent.

India did show some fight in the second quarter as Ankit completed his hat-trick with back-to-back goals after goalkeeper Aneesh Babu saved a penalty stroke at the other end. However, Japan soon made it a one-sided affair as Lowry shot his fifth goal while Atsuya scored a brace to stretch the lead to 19-7 by the end of the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Women’s national team had no respite either following their opening day defeat to Singapore as they were overrun by Uzbeks in their latest outing. Karnataka teenager Prachetha, along with Kripa Ranichithra, managed a consolation of two goals while Uzbek Elena Gavashelashvili ran riot with six goals from seven shots. Her teammates Aziza Salamatova and Aleksa Verklova scored four goals each.

The women’s team take on Japan in their last group game but will qualify for quarters irrespective of the outcome of the match as all four teams will qualify in the inconsequential group stages.

Results: Men: Uzbekistan: 11 lt to China: 29; Singapore: 7 lt to Kazakhstan: 11; India: 11 lt to Japan: 35.

Women: Kazakhstan: 6 lt to China: 23; India: 4 lt to Uzbekistan: 23; Hong Kong: 7 lt to Thailand: 26.