Bangkok, Dec 8: One could only dwell at length and nostalgically about the days of the late Jimmy George and Cyril Valloor when India were a force to reckon with, at least in the Asian region. However, the sport seem to have fallen on bad days going by the hiding the team received here on Tuesday at the hands of Japan in the Asian Games competition.The Japanese, displaying a professional touch in just about everything they did on the court, wiped off India 15-3, 15-4, 15-6, in just over an hour. India, thus, are virtually out of the reckoning for the next stage, having crashed to their second straight defeat in as many matches.
Not that the Indians were expected to do a rope trick on the day, but surely, the difference between the teams was so vast as to look unbridgeable. The Japanese excelled in all departments of the game and showed a great deal of variety, be it in their setting or spiking.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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