Doha: India resurrected their handball campaign in the 15th Asian Games with a comfortable 31-14 victory over Macau

in a Group A league match at the Al Gharrafa Indoor Hall here yesterday (Dec 4, 2006).

The Indians, who had lost the opening match against Qatar yesterday, exploited the weak defence of Macau to record their first win in the competitions.

Relying on Naya Chandra Singh Rungban's shooting skills, the Indians opened up a 17-5 lead in the opening session and kept the pressure on their opponents to eventually win by a comfortable margin.

Rungban emerged as the top scorer with 12 points wjile Gaurav Sehgal (4), Binu Vasuk (4), Rasheed Khan (4) and Sukhdev Singh (3) were the other notable performers for the team.

For Macau, Hong Chen Chau (3) and Weng Hang Kiok (3) were the top scorers.

Indian custodian Ratan Kumar Pandey was in great form, stopping 14 shots at the goal out of 24 while the other goal tender, Sachin Wagh, too did his bit by stopping three out of seven tries.

Firoz Ahmed Khan, one of the key players of India, said the victory was the result of an improved performance by the entire team.

"Compared to yesterday's match against Qatar, it was a 100 per cent better performance. Last night we practiced a lot and built our confidence level," Firoz said.

India play Bahrain tomorrow to conclude their league engagements. The top two teams in each of the four pools will advance to the next stage of the 14-team event.