Indians disappoint in taekwondo

India did not have the best of outing in taekwondo competitions on the 12th day of the 17th Asian Games with Aarti Khakal and Rajan Pandia Anand crashing out in their respective events, here today.
While Aarti lost 8-15 to Ganiya Alzak of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 encounter of women's 57kg category, Anand was shown the door by Yonghyun Park of Korea 1-7 in the round of 16 of the men's 80kg category at the Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium.
In the women's 57kg category, Aarti started her contest on a bright note by pocketing the first round 2-0. The Indian continued her good showing but lost the second round 3-4 to the Kazakh girl.

But Aarti was completely off colour in the third round which the Kazakh girl pocketed comfortably with a 3-11 margin to seal the match and a place in the last 16 in her favour.
Anand, on the other hand, fought valiantly in the first two rounds but his Korean opponent did just enough to garner a point each from both the rounds.
The Indian managed to earn a point in the third round but also gave five points to lose the encounter.
Later in the day, another Indian Nakul Malhotra will face Elias El Hedari of Lebanon in the quarterfinals of the men's +87kg division.