Defending champions South Korea beat Hong Kong 21-7 as they opened their quest for a third Asian Games rugby sevens crown here Sunday while China looked ominous in their 41-0 demolition of India.
China are gunning for a gold medal in their second appearance in Asian Games rugby and coach Zheng Hongjun said he believes his side had a good chance of the title.
"We played pretty well," he said. "It won't be good enough to win the tournament but we can step up a level."
He said the Chinese are fitter, faster and better trained than four years ago when they first competed in the rugby tournament and finished out of the medals.
They scored seven tries with 22-year-old flyer Li Yang scoring a hat-trick against the hapless Indians who are making their debut in Asian Games rugby.
The tournament is divided into three groups of three teams and only the three group winners, accompanied by the best runner up from the remaining six teams, qualify for the semi-finals on Monday.
Hong Kong's defeat in Pool A to South korea is almost certain to cost them a place in the last four unless they can convincingly beat the other pool team Thailand in their next match.
Pool B is made up of China, India and Sri Lanka with Pool C comprising Taiwan, Japan and Qatar.
Taiwan opened their campaign with a merciless 82-0 defeat of rugby rookies Qatar running in 12 tries.
"We missed too many opportunities against South Korea," said Hong Kong's Kiwi coach Rod McIntosh, a former Hong Kong International. "We threw it away."
South Korea won the title when rugby was first introduced as an Asian Games sport in 1998 and reclaimed it in Busan four years later when the 15-a-side version was also played.
Now only the abbreviated, and faster, seven-a-side version has been retained and South Korea manager Song No-Il admitted that they are facing tougher odds this time around.
"China have improved and Taiwan and Japan are strong," he said. "We will have to play better than this to win against China."
Japan, Asia's rugby powerhouse, have never enjoyed success at the Asiad whose strict nationality rules prevent them from fielding their key overseas players.
India hit new low after Asiad flop
DOHA: India crashed out of the Asian Games men's field hockey on Sunday, leaving the former champions facing an uncertain future in a sport they once ruled the world, as violence broke out in another match.
India drew 1-1 with South Korea at the Al Rayyan stadium in a match they had to win to qualify for the semi-finals and now face a real threat of missing the Olympics for the first time.
Both goals came in the second half as India's Vokkaliga Raghunath equalised in the 57th minute after penalty corner specialist Jang Jong-Hyun had put the Koreans ahead in the 41st.
South Korea, the defending champions, topped group B with 10 points, one more than China who took the other semi-final spot. India finished with seven points.
India had made it to the Asiad gold medal clash on 11 of the past 12 occasions since field hockey was introduced at the Tokyo Games in 1958, winning the title twice in 1966 and 1998.
The only time India missed the final was at Seoul in 1986 when they claimed the bronze behind South Korea and Pakistan.
The eight-time Olympic champions now face a potentially hazardous qualifying route to the 2008 Beijing Games. The eventual finalists here will gain a direct entry.
India will contest one of the three Olympic qualifying tournaments to be held in Chile, Japan and New Zealand in early 2008 and need to win it to make the trip to Beijing.
The task will not be easy for the Indians, who finished 11th out of 12 teams at the World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany in September.
Indian coach Vasudevan Bhaskaran, whose year-long tenure ends after the Asian Games, said the failure to reach the semi-finals was a setback. But he praised the team for putting up a brave fight against the Koreans. "It was an equal game that could have gone either way," said Bhaskaran, who was captain when India won the last of its eight Olympic golds at the western-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980.
"I think it was our best match of the tournament but a few chances were missed which cost us victory.
"The defeat against China proved vital. It was our only loss in the tournament and that denied us a place in the semi-finals."
India, who lost 3-2 against China last Tuesday, beat Bangladesh 6-0 and Oman 9-0 in their other matches before the draw against the Koreans. Bangladesh, meanwhile, fought back from a 1-2 deficit to beat Oman 5-3 in a violent match that ended in Bangladeshi player Mamunur Rahman being stretched off the field after being hit by Oman's Hossam Hassan with a hockey stick.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.