By Ravi Kant Singh, IANS
Hyderabad : India will be fighting for the fifth to eighth classification spots after going down 23-26 to Lithuania in the handball competition of the 4th Military World Games at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium here Thursday.
The victory put Lithuania in the semi-finals from Group A as the number two team behind South Korea, who finished unbeaten in the five-team group.
Belarus and Latvia have made it to the last four from Group B.
Also in Group A, Greece defeated Turkey 32-26 to make India’s task that much easier.
India were fighting to avoid finishing bottom of Group A and had to ensure that they do not lose by a margin of more than four goals to get into the classification matches ahead of Turkey who tied with the hosts on one point after their opening day’s 30-30 draw.
Turkey took the ninth and last place in the competition.
The Indians came out fighting and took the Lithuanians by surprise by making them fight for every possession.
Indian coach Arunachalam said the team had come out determined to win against the more experienced Lithuanians.
“My boys were determined to win. Then margin would not be a factor at all. But we don’t ply as much handball as the Lithuanians who are regulars in the Baltic league along with Latvia and Belarus,” Arunachalam told IANS.
“We went into the match in a positive frame of mind and only in the last minute when they were leading by four points 26-22 that I told the boys to play it safe and settle for a defeat by three goals.”
“With more experience of top level competition, our boys can improve as we have shown here with every match.”
In the classification matches, Greece play the United Arab Emirates and India face Qatar, while in the semi-finals, South Korea take on Latvia and Lithuania meet Belarus.
All matches are scheduled for Friday, with the final Saturday.