India rout Bangladesh in Kabaddi opener at Asiad

Doha, Dec 2 (UNI) Seeking a record fifth straight Gold, defending champion India opened their title defence in style as they humbled neighbouring Bangladesh 40-21 in the Kabaddi competition at the 15th Asian Games here today.

The winners, who led 24-14 at half time, should have won by a much bigger margin but their overconfident and complacent defence gave away many points to their rivals in an otherwise one-sided match.

The Indians raced to a decent 7-1 lead in no time as the match started but their defenders let go some easy points as the Bangladeshi raiders were allowed to slip out.

But the defensive lapses were compensated well by the furious raiders, who exposed the rival defence on a regular basis.

Their cause was helped by the Bangladesh attack, which lacked punch. Though the Bangladeshis managed to win some points, most of the times they were let off the hook by the loose Indian defence.

The Indians' attack was spearheaded by skipper Dinesh Kumar and he was well supported by Pankaj Shirsat, Ramesh Kumar, Manpreet Singh.

The defending champions managed to get the Bangladesh side all out twice in each half while their rivals failed to do so even once.

An elated coach Balwan Singh said, ''It was good to start the campaign on a winning note. We were confident of victory but our players became a bit complacent and the defence conceded some points.'' Earlier in the first match of the competition, strong contenders Pakistan outplayed Japan 34-16.

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