Published By: Amrit Santlani
Last Updated: September 20, 2023, 17:54 IST
Indian women’s team cheering for Indian men’s football team. (Credits: Smriti Mandhana IG)
Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana and other players of the Indian cricket team cheered for the men’s football team in their Asian Games opening game
The Indian football team did not get off to a good start as they went down 5-1 in a tough match against China at the Asian Games 2023 on September 19. Rahul KP managed to score the equaliser for India, but China came out all guns blazing in the second half and slammed 4 goals to seal a very convincing win.
The Indian team, however, had good support at the stadium. In attendance were members of the Indian women’s cricket team were showing their support during this challenging game. Indian opening batter Smriti Mandhana shared a video on her Instagram story featuring her cricket teammates Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Devika Vaidya – all these players were cheering for the Indian football team.
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Absolutely love, love, LOVE this!India’s top women cricketers Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Devika Vaidya turned up to support the men’s football team today.
That’s the fun of multi-sport events, no? 🙂
[🎥 via Smriti’s IG]#AsianGames pic.twitter.com/xMBWehxGrt
— Shyam Vasudevan (@JesuisShyam) September 19, 2023
Cricket at the Asian Games
Indian women’s cricket teams will also be taking part in the cricket event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Hence, it was wonderful to see Harmanpreet and her teammates taking time out of their busy schedules and extend support to the Indian football team.
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The cricket event started with Indonesia taking on Mongolia. In another match, Malaysia clashed with Hong Kong. Big Asian teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh will start their campaign in the quarterfinals. India’s first match in the Asian Games will be against one of the qualifying teams from September 21. The ‘Women in Blue’ won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games last year and will be big favourites to go all the way and clinch gold at the Asian Games.
Harmanpreet will lead the side and Smriti Mandhana will be her deputy. There was a last-minute change to the 15-member squad as there was an injury to Anjali Sarvani, who was then replaced by all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar.
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The Indian men’s team will also take part in the Asian Games where they will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad. The Indian men’s team has a very strong side for the Asian Games and it is made up of young performers who have been good in the IPL as well as domestic cricket.