India finish l2th in men's handball

Doha, Dec 11 (UNI) India finished a poor 12th in men's handball event after waging a grim battle before going down to China 33-34 in the last placement match in the Asian Games here today.

The Indians put up a decent performance to come from behind and at one stage looked like surprising the Chinese.

Trailing 14-18 at the half time, the Indians came tantalisingly close to their opponents in the action-packed second half but just could not manage to forge ahead before the final whistle.

The one-point defeat meant that India finished 12th in the 14-team competition.

Firoz Ahmed Khan was the the pick of the Indian players after topscoring with nine goals, while Prem Kumar chipped in with seven.

Naya Chandra Singh Rungbam was also another notable performer with six goals.

For China, Xiaolong Wang top scored with 10 points.

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